The Cyclones were on the road again this weekend to square off against two of the Big 12’s best teams in No. 34 Texas A&M and No. 20 Texas.

Inclement weather forced both matches to begin with singles play, so the Cyclone singles players took to the court first Friday and Saturday.

Iowa State competed first with Texas A&M (11-7, 6-2 Big 12) on Friday in College Station, Texas. In singles play, the Cyclones would take on three nationally ranked opponents in No. 65 Elzé Potgieter, No. 72. Nazari Urbina and No. 109 Morgan Frank. ISU junior Erin Karonis fell to Potgeiter 6-2, 7-5 at No. 1 singles. Urbina downed sophomore Maria Macedo 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and sophomore Tessa Lang lost to Frank 6-2, 6-2.

The Aggies clinched victory with a win at No. 4 singles from Sheri Olivier over ISU freshman Jenna Langhorst 6-2, 6-4. With the winner decided, sophomore Marie-Christine Chartier picked up the Cyclones’ lone win of the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over A&M’s Lauren Santacroce. Singles play wrapped up with ISU junior Liza Wischer falling 6-1, 7-5 to Christi Liles.

Both teams moved to the doubles court where Texas A&M picked up three more victories to give them the doubles point and the 6-1 victory. Potgeiter and Urbina defeated Macedo and Lang 8-6, Karonis and Langhorst fell to Frank and Stephanie Davidson 8-3 and Liles and Olivier defeated Wischer and senior Alyssa Palen 8-1.

ISU coach Armando Espinosa recognized that the Cyclones didn’t start the match out as well as they needed to help with their chances for an upset.

“We need to start a little bit quicker and with the belief that we can compete with these guys,” Espinosa said.

Hoping for a better start Saturday, Iowa State headed to Austin to face Texas (12-4, 7-1). In singles, Iowa State put the pressure on the Longhorns, playing three matches that went to three sets. At No. 1 and No. 2 singles, Karonis and Macedo each won their first sets 6-3 against ranked opponents, No. 58 Vanja Corovic and No. 57 Krista Damico. However, both Longhorn ladies battled back as Corovic downed Karonis 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and Damico defeated Macedo 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Lang fell to Texas’ Sarah Lancaster 6-1, 6-1 and Langhorst lost 6-3, 6-3 to Maggie Mello at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. At No. 5, Chartier played Caroline Larsson into the third set before falling 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. Abby Liu of Texas finished the singles sweep with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Wischer.

Down 6-0 for the match, Macedo and Lang earned a victory over Damico and Amanda Craddock 8-4 at No. 1 doubles. Macedo and Lang took over at the No. 1 doubles position for the first time this weekend after spending most of the season at the No. 2 position. The pair has won nine of its last 10 matches and lead the doubles pairings at 12-7 on the year.

“We’re supposed to keep the lineup based on our strengths, and they’ve earned their spots,” Espinosa said. “They won against Texas, so that tells you that they can compete there.”

Despite the win at No. 1 doubles, Texas was able to complete the 7-0 sweep of the Cyclones by sealing the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles.

The loss marked the 60th consecutive for the Cyclones (9-12, 2-7) against the four Texas teams — Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech—in the Big 12. Although the team was looking for a potential upset, Espinosa feels that his team is beginning to rise to a new level of competition when facing their Big 12 opponents.

“The result certainly doesn’t speak for what happened,” Espinosa said. “It’s a good step for the [ISU] program to be competitive in these matches.”

Iowa State will finish the regular season next weekend when it travels to Oklahoma State (10-8, 3-5) and Oklahoma (15-4, 5-3).

Both matches will be crucial to the Cyclones’ chances at a higher seed in the Big 12 Tournament, which is only two weeks away. Iowa State is currently in 10th but only one match behind the four teams — Oklahoma State, Colorado, Texas Tech and Kansas State — currently at 3-5 in Big 12 play.

“We control our own destiny now, we can be high as a seven [seed] or eight [seed] or as low as a 10 [seed],” Espinosa said.