The ISU women’s tennis team lost two hard-fought battles against Texas A&M and Ball State during the weekend in the team’s first dual meets of the season.

“In the record books it wasn’t a success,” freshman Elizabeth Chermel said. “But for the team mentally it was.”

The Cyclones fell to both teams on the home courts of the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center.

“I felt confident on those courts,” Chermel said. “It put me at ease to have teams like that come here to play.”

The Cyclones faced off against the Ball State Cardinals on Friday and combated through six singles matches ending with a score of 3-3. The deciding point came down to the doubles competitions.

“The doubles matches are played at the beginning of the meet,” Chermel said. “You don’t know whether it’s going to come down to that point or not, but you play your best.”

The meet against Ball State was a grudge match for the Cyclones after having lost to the Cardinals last season.

“The coach told us that we had close matches with them before,” Chermel said.

“She got us prepared for it. Knowing that we have three seniors on the team and having them say that we were right in there was an incentive too.”

Chermel said that the most exciting part of the meet was the tiebreaker she won to defeat her opponent in her singles match 3-6, 6-4, (10-7).

“It was a good experience to start off the year,” Chermel said. “The whole team was watching and it was very exciting.”

The Cyclones dueled against Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon. The Aggies came into the meet ranked No. 22 in the nation, according to the latest Omni Hotel Collegiate Tennis Rankings.

“I’m from Texas so I grew up hearing about A&M,” Chermel said. “I knew the team would be strong before the coach said anything about them.”

Texas A&M defeated Iowa State 6-1.

“The scores didn’t make the matches seem close, but everyone was fighting and trying hard. I think we surprised them.”

The ISU women will face Northern Illinois at noon Saturday and No. 12 ranked Texas at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Both meets will take place at the Ames Racquet and Fitness Center.

“Texas has been extremely strong,” Chermel said.

“But the dynamics of a team can change from year to year. Anything can happen on any given day.”