The University of Nebraska brought more than just its football team to Iowa State this weekend. The ISU Tennis Club hosted the Nebraska Tennis Club on Saturday morning at the Forker tennis courts.

The meet consisted of both singles and doubles play and co-ed doubles matches.

Thirty members from the ISU Tennis Club came out Saturday morning not only to compete in an intrastate rivalry, but also to have some fun grilling out before the big football game later that evening.

The tennis club ended up losing the meet to Nebraska, 16-5, but the lopsided score didn’t seem to hamper the fun atmosphere of the day.

Brandon Haag, freshman in mechanical engineering, won his singles match 8-6.

He said his main focus is winning his matches and improving his game.

“I do wish it was more competitive,” Haag said, “but this is the first time in a long time I’m actually having fun playing tennis.”

The ISU Tennis Club does submit its scores to the United States Tennis Association. The USTA is the governing body which hosts the national tournament each year.

The ISU Tennis Club made it to nationals last year and played Hawaii and North Carolina before eventually losing by one point in the second of four rounds.

Although most of the players on the tennis club play for the fun of the game, some do treat it very competitively.

Natasha Knapp, freshman in animal science, is one of the club’s top woman players and hopes to get a shot to play for the Division I women’s team at Iowa State.

Knapp puts in an extra seven hours a week outside of the normal twice a week practices the club has.

“I’m just working to get better to play for the [collegiate team] next year,” she said.

Knapp played well against her opponent during Saturday’s meet but ended up losing by one point in the tie-breaking game of her set.

“The most important thing for me is singles,” Knapp said.

Saturday’s loss against Nebraska was Knapp’s first of the season and now sets her record at 2-1.

The ISU Tennis Club always welcomes new members of any skill level to come out and play. For anyone interested in joining, go to the team’s Web site at www.stuorg.iastate.edu/tennis and contact any of the officers.