Building confidence is the name of the game for the ISU women’s tennis team as the Cyclones take the road for matches against Kansas State and Kansas.

Sophomore Caitlin Loprinzi has been victorious in all three matches she has played since returning from wrist surgeries that kept her on the sidelines for more than a year. Junior Danielle Uscinski has won five out of her last six matches, and has mentioned on several occasions that confidence is key to the good play she is producing.

Unfortunately, there is not an abundance of confidence on the team.

“Everyone reacts differently,” said Coach Michele Conlon. “There’s no magic wand for everyone to gain confidence. One of the secrets to confidence is getting a win and another is good preparation and feeling like you are earning the right to win.”

The tough competition in the Big 12, where all but four teams are ranked No. 65 or higher, puts team members’ personal success into perspective.

“This week we actually made lists of indirect wins we have had this season,” Conlon said. “For example, we’ve beaten University of Illinois at Chicago, and they have beaten Northern Iowa and Marquette. We have also beaten Drake, who has beaten Northern Illinois, and Wyoming has beaten UTEP.”

Sophomore Chrissy Derouin, who did not play last week against Texas Tech, got her first view from the sidelines of the tennis team.

“Seeing close matches, you want to be out there,” Derouin said. “It’s made me hungry, and I carried that into this week’s practice.”

No. 56 Kansas State has one victory in its last five matches, but that number is a bit misleading. The lone win was over rival No. 62 Kansas, but the defeats were all by the score of 4-3 to high-quality opponents – No. 20 Long Beach State, No. 47 Iowa, No. 53 San Diego and Oklahoma State. Kansas State (2-2, 6-6) defeated Iowa State last season by the score of 7-0.

No. 62 Kansas is riding a four-match winning streak, three of which were by 7-0 scores. Kansas is led by freshman Ksenia Bukina, who is 8-5 on the No. 1 court. Kansas (0-3, 9-6) defeated Iowa State the last time the two teams faced each other last season by the same 7-0 score.

“There’s a significant increase in games won compared to last year,” Conlon said. “And I think the team should garner confidence from that and continue to work through the rest of the season.”

The season has netted the team three victories so far, all non-conference. But the team also has more victories than it did last season, when it only won one match.

“They are smart enough to understand who they’re playing,” Conlon said of the team. “We just try to keep it fun and measure success in different ways.”