Iowa State tennis finally opened up its spring season with a round-robin tournament in Lawrence, Kansas, after a historic fall season. The Cyclones faced three different opponents each day: Kansas State on Thursday, Kansas on Friday and they concluded their series against Memphis on Saturday.
Day one in Lawrence featured a solid performance in both singles and doubles for the Cyclones, with singles picking up four total victories and doubles with two wins against Kansas State.
The duo of the recent NCAA Doubles Championship qualifiers, sophomore Mari Paz Alberto Vilar and junior Stanislava Shulzhenko, started their spring doubles campaign with a loss, 6-2. However, sophomore Julia Camblor and freshman Gabriella Kellner came out with a victory 7-6, as well as the fellow Cyclones duo of sophomore Suzanie Pretorius and junior Valeska San Martin Ramirez, winning 6-2.
In singles, the new addition of freshman Alicia Dale from Australia picked up her very first singles victory, 6-3, 6-7 and 6-2. Sophomore Gabriela Felix dominated, winning 6-0 twice, and freshman Kira Smith dominated, winning 6-1 and 6-0. Pretorius also won her singles matches 6-0 and 6-3.
Valentina Vargas came up short on the day, losing 6-2 and 6-2. Camblor also lost 6-2 and 6-2, while Kellner lost 6-4 and 7-5 to close out day one.
Day two showcased a strong display from the Cyclones’ doubles, winning two matches, and a weaker day two from singles for Iowa State against Kansas, winning three matches.
Junior Ashlee Narker and Camblor won their match against Kansas 6-4, along with the new combo of Pretorius and Kellner winning 7-5. Alberto Vilar and Shulzhenko lost their second doubles match 6-3, moving to 0-2 in the early part of the spring season.
Narker had her work cut out for her, playing top 25 nationally ranked junior Kyoka Kubo, in her first singles match of the season. Narker dropped her first match, along with Camblor, Dale, Ramirez and Shulzhenko, who both appeared in their first singles matches.
Alberto Vilar opened her first singles match in the spring season with a win, as well as Vargas and Kellner winning their first singles matches of the season.
Day three led to a shorter slate of matches for the Cyclones as they took on Memphis. The Cyclones achieved five total victories and had a good showing in doubles, but the Cyclones thrived in singles, beating the Tigers with wins from four players from the Cyclones.
For doubles, the duo of Narker and Camblor got the job done with a win 7-6 [4]. Dale and Kellner teamed up for their first double and dropped their match 6-3.
Singles were about as good as you could get for the Cyclones. Pretorius closed the weekend with a singles win, going 2-0 on the weekend in singles. Vargas picked up her second collegiate win in singles, winning 6-7, 6-1 and 10-5.
Dale was also able to pick up her second win in singles for the weekend, 4-1, to go 2-1 on the weekend in singles. Camblor pulled out a victory 6-2 and 6-3 to win the match. Kellner dropped her match 6-3 and 6-2 to close the weekend.
Overall, the Cyclones had a good showing in doubles and a great showing in singles for the weekend and are looking to repeat the success as the Cyclones travel to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers Friday.
