The ISU tennis team hopes to reverse its losing trend, starting with nonconference matches against Drake University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Returning from road matches spanning the entire month of February, the Cyclones hope that the new month will also bring a change of results. They are 0-4 on the season, and winning in front of a home crowd could be just what they need. The site for the match against University of Illinois at Chicago was resceduled from Des Moines to Ames. A win will be a boost for the team, regardless of the location.

“That is the whole objective,” said coach Michele Conlon. “It would be great to grab a win here. We need to keep getting better and success comes in a lot of forms – and winning is definitely one of them.”

Areas that need to improve include singles play, where the Cyclones have won only one singles match all season, often having lost in straight sets. Doubles play is also not at the most capable level yet, with the exceptional play of Chrissy Derouin and Danielle Uscinski owning all but one of the team’s victories in doubles.

University of Illinois at Chicago is currently 3-0 in the Horizon League, winning last weekend against University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by a combined score of 13-1.

Conlon is aware of University of Illinois at Chicago and is anticipating a hard-fought match.

“We have high expectations no matter who we’re playing,” Conlon said. “They’ve beaten us in the past and they are a scrappy team with a lot of fight.”

University of Illinois at Chicago won the Horizon League last season, and is led by Callan Smith, last week’s Horizon League women’s tennis player of the week. Smith recorded two singles wins and two doubles wins last week to earn the honor.

Drake is 2-5 on the season but has not lost at home. They split two matches on the road two weeks ago against Northern Illinois University and DePaul University. Conlon said that the team has played at Drake so often over the years that the team is comfortable there.

The last time the Cyclones played Drake was in the Lloyd Stokstad Invitational this past fall. In that tournament, the Cyclones did not drop a match to Drake, and Jill Palen went undefeated in singles and doubles play. The Cyclones dominated the tournament, placing three individuals in the final two matches of the singles brackets and having two doubles teams play each other in the final doubles bracket.

The match against the University of Illinois at Chicago will start at 4 p.m. Friday at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center, 320 S. 17th St. The team will then travel to Des Moines to face Drake University at 2 p.m Saturday at the Drake Tennis Center. The events are free and the team encourages fan support.