Scheduled to face two highly-ranked opponents, the ISU tennis team dreamed of leaving the Lone Star State by pulling off a stunning upset. Instead, the Cyclones came home from their weekend Texas road trip with a nightmare on their hands.

The trip began March 28, when the Cyclones headed to Austin to take on the 17th-ranked Texas Longhorns. Texas showed it deserved its lofty ranking by quickly dispatching the Cyclones, 7-0. With the win, Texas improved their record to 9-4 (3-0 Big 12).

Just two days later, the Cyclones made the trip east to College Station to take on No. 32 Texas A&M. The meet was interrupted by an hour-and-13-minute rain delay, and the Aggies shellacked the Cyclones, again 7-0. The win moved the Aggies’ record to 10-5 (4-0 Big 12).

Despite being shut out in the singles matches, the Cyclones avoided an overall sweep by winning one doubles match. Iowa State’s Chrissy Derouin and Erin Karonis were able to overcome the sporadic rain showers that interrupted their match to defeat Anna Blagodarova and Tiffany Clifford by a score of 8-6.

Coach Michele Conlon was especially proud of how well Derouin and Karounis dealt with the very unpredictable weather conditions that plagued their match.

“They handled the rain delay pretty well,” Conlon said. “Once the match restarted, I think they played exceptionally well and were able to come away with a great win.”

Following the disastrous road trip, the Cyclones turn their attention to their next two opponents. At 5 p.m. Friday, the Cyclones will take on the University of Oklahoma. They will then travel to Stillwater, Okla., to battle Oklahoma State at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Thanks to some well-timed advice from her captains, Conlon expects the team to come out and be completely focused come Friday .

“Following our meet versus A&M, our captains [seniors Caitlin Loprinzicq and Derouin] decided they needed to address the team,” Conlon said. “They told them to ‘put this weekend behind you and move on. It is important to focus on the next task at hand and not to dwell on the past.'”

For the first time in three matches, the Cyclones aren’t facing a ranked opponent. With both the Sooners (8-7, 1-3 Big 12) and the Cowgirls (6-7, 0-4) struggling, Conlon expects great things out of her team this weekend.

“If everyone comes out and is ready to play, I fully expect us to win both meets,” Conlon said. “I feel that we did not come out of the gates very well last weekend, which was what really hurt us in the end.”