The ISU women’s tennis team’s two freshmen — Jill Palen and Danielle Uscinski — posted their first career Big 12 wins Saturday. But it wasn’t enough as the Cyclones (5-8, 0-6 Big 12) fell 4-3 to Texas Tech at the Ames Racquet & Fitness Center.

The Texas Tech Lady Raiders (11-6, 4-4) opened by sweeping all three doubles matches to capture the point and take a 1-0 lead. That would prove to be the deciding point as the teams split the six singles matches.

ISU head coach Michele Conlon was pleased with how her team competed.

“We started slowly, but the team responded well,” Conlon said. “We hit the ball cleanly and made a great recovery.”

Palen agreed.

“We came out slow in doubles play, but really picked it up later,” Palen said.

Palen defeated Texas Tech’s Tara Browning 6-3, 5-7, 10-3 in the No. 3 singles slot, and Uscinski beat Katja Kovacic 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.

“It was really exciting to get that first conference win,” Uscinski said. “Texas Tech always stayed focused and gave us a tough battle.”

Conlon praised the Cyclones’ opponents for their effort on the road.

“Texas Tech had a tremendous amount of energy. They played with a lot of emotion, and Jill and Danielle did a great job battling that emotion to win,” Conlon said. “Our team worked hard in practice this week and even played extra outside of practice. They took the extra step, and that showed up today.”

The other Cyclone singles victory came from sophomore Charlotte Ljungkrantz, who took the first set 6-4 from Texas Tech’s Hiristiyana Gocheva. Texas Tech coach Cari Groce chose to forfeit the match rather than play another set, giving Ljungkrantz her fourth straight singles victory.

“It would have been nice for Charlotte to get to finish her game,” Conlon said.

“Texas Tech had the option of forfeiting the match, and they felt it would have taken too long to play.”

Since Ljungkrantz’s match was the last to finish, it would not have affected the overall outcome.

This was the Cyclones’ first match in Ames since a victory over Northern Iowa on March 5.

“It’s nice to play at home,” Palen said. “We get a day off instead of playing two matches in a weekend.”

Conlon also stressed the benefits of playing at home.

“It’s always great to play in front of your own fans. Fans can have a lot of impact on a player when they’re just five feet from the action,” Conlon said.

Iowa State continues its home stand next weekend, hosting Colorado Friday and Missouri Saturday.