ISU coach Armando Espinosa isn’t expecting a Big 12 Conference title from his 2010 squad. He isn’t even expecting it to finish in the top half of the conference. Espinosa has his eyes on eighth place in the the Big 12 as he continues to build the ISU program in his second year as coach.

“I think if we can get to that eight spot, that would be great. That would mean four wins in the Big 12,” Espinosa said. “Going from zero [wins] in [seven] years to one one year and to jump all the way to four, that would be great.”

Espinosa cleared the first major hurdle last season when the team ended a historic 79-match losing streak in Big 12 Conference play. The Cyclones defeated Kansas State 4–3 on March 13, 2009, at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center to earn their first victory since March 2, 2002. After that victory, the Cyclones lost their last 10 Big 12 matches and have not earned two Big 12 victories in a season since 2000–’01.

“I think that if we can take two, that’s still a 100 percent improvement, so we’ll take one step at a time,” Espinosa said.

The Big 12 Conference will be one of the toughest in the nation once again as seven of the 12 teams — including the Cyclones’ opponent Saturday, No. 5 Baylor — are ranked in the top 75 nationally. In order to prepare itself for the tough competition, the team has played three ranked teams — No. 66 Old Dominion, No. 55 Minnesota and No. 27 VCU — this nonconference season. The team is currently 5–5 in non-conference play and will host Cleveland State and the University of South Dakota on March 18.

“I think it’s good to have Big 12 level competition before we get into the Big 12 so we’re not kind of shell-shocked when we get into it,” said returning All-Big 12 honoree junior Erin Karonis.

Espinosa is excited for the conference schedule because the team will play only one of those seven ranked teams, Baylor, in its first four Big 12 dual matches.

“Coming off of the Baylor match to play a team like Missouri, and then you have Kansas and Kansas State who are kind of pretty close as well, that’s going to give us a bit of confidence as we really get going in the Big 12,” Espinosa said.

The Cyclones are 7–151 all-time in Big 12 Conference play since the conference’s inception in 1997: a winning percentage of only 4.4 percent. In order to improve that percentage, Espinosa feels his team needs to begin each match strong by winning two of the three double matches which will earn the doubles point for the match.

“If we want to beat a team that we’re not supposed to beat in the Big 12, we need to win that doubles point,” Espinosa said.

Being in the eighth position in the Big 12 would also put the Cyclones on the brink of being ranked in the top 75 nationally, something that Espinosa made a goal at the beginning of the season. The Cyclones have not been nationally ranked since 2002, when they reached No. 68 in the nation.

Leading the way for the Cyclones will be No. 1 singles and doubles player, Karonis. After going 3–7 in the fall season, Karonis has begun her spring season 6–4 in singles play.

“I never perform well in the fall, but I always somehow perform well in the spring,” Karonis said. “I feel like even though I didn’t get the wins I wanted and didn’t do as well at Regionals, I still got a lot of practice in with matches, and I feel like sometimes you learn more from losing than winning.”

Karonis definitely had an impressive spring season in 2009 when she went 7–4 in Big 12 play, becoming only the second ISU player all-time to earn All-Big 12 honors.

“I don’t want to get it sophomore year and not get it junior year,” Karonis said.

A new goal for Karonis is earning All-Big 12 honors in doubles, something no Cyclone tandem has done in the history of the program.

“She’s still very competitive, I think she can come out and make this year another great year for her,” Espinosa said.

Teaming up with Karonis in doubles will be freshman Jenna Langhorst, who along with Karonis and sophomore Marie-Christine Chartier, lead the team in singles with records of 6–4. Karonis and Langhorst are second on the team in doubles wins at 5–5 behind senior Alyssa Palen and junior Liza Wischer at 6–3. Langhorst is confident that even without winning the doubles point that the team is deep enough at singles to earn some victories.

“Even if we don’t win the doubles point, I feel like we’re still there,” Langhorst said.

Langhorst wasn’t around during the losing streak, which may be a good thing for the team’s optimism as she hopes to replicate the team’s nonconference win total in the conference season.

“Last year I know we beat one team. Now hopefully this year, we definitely have a chance against those four teams and hopefully we can sneak a few more in there,” Langhorst said. “Maybe five wins.”

The Cyclones 5-6 (0-1) began Big 12 play on Saturday with a 7-0 loss to Baylor.