Tennis loses to ranked A&M

Noah Schmelzer

Streaks ended, streaks extended.

The ISU tennis team dropped all nine matches en route to a 7-0 defeat at the hands of the Texas A&M Aggies on Friday at the 7 Flags Fitness & Racquet Club in Clive.

Iowa State (3-2, 0-2) came into the weekend’s match having dispatched three consecutive nonconference opponents, but was unable to push it to four straight. The No. 29 Aggies (8-1, 2-0), meanwhile, were able to extend their own winning streak to five.

With the sweep of Iowa State, Texas A&M became the first team this season to defeat the Cyclone’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Eve Soriano and sophomore Kara Hickey . The duo of Tiffany Clifford and Sarah Foster lived up to their No. 50 national ranking as they handled the previously unbeaten pair from Ames, 8-3.

“They came out really consistent,” Soriano said. “They didn’t do anything magical, but they did not give up any free points. Points we would usually finish, they were able to get their racquets on and get it back in play. Out of the last three or four years, this is the strongest I’ve ever seen them [Texas A&M].”

The closest match of the day was at the No. 3 spot. Iowa State’s Caitlin Loprinzi was the only player to take more than a handful of games off of an Aggie opponent. She gave the Aggies Foster all she could handle in the second set before finally falling 6-2, 6-4.

“Caitlin played extremely well,” coach Michele Conlon said. “That player [Foster] was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year last year. Caitlin played an exciting second set.”

Iowa State hopes to bounce back as they travel to Greeley, Colo. on Friday to take on Northern Colorado and to Boulder, Colo., Saturday to face Colorado.

For full results see Cyclones.com.