The Iowa State Cyclones (2-2) are back to .500 following an exhilarating come-from-behind 4-3 victory against the UNLV Rebels (3-1) on Friday in Las Vegas.
The Rebels entered the match unblemished following three 7-0 victories in their opening weekend slate and were looking for a signature nonconference win to start the season. However, the Cyclones utilized a pair of three-set wins to rally and re-establish their identity as a strong top-to-bottom team.
UNLV earned the doubles point easily, winning the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches 6-1. This marked Iowa State’s first doubles loss since the season-opening defeat against Minnesota.
Junior Stanislava Shulzhenko evened the meet at one point apiece with a 6-4, 6-3 win over junior Hudson Hawkins in the No. 3 match. Shulzhenko is now 2-1 in singles matches during the spring season.
Freshman Alicia Dale suffered her first loss of the season in a tight 7-5, 6-3 match at No. 4 singles. The loss gave the Rebels a 2-1 lead while UNLV also claimed three of the other four first sets.
Sophomore Mari Paz Alberto Vilar continued her strong start to the season in the No. 2 match against Nikol Mircheva, earning a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
The Cyclones also benefited from a critical three-set comeback victory by sophomore Suzanie Pretorius in the No. 5 match. Pretorius dropped the first set 3-6, but a 6-1 second set and 6-3 third set gave Iowa State a 3-2 lead with just the No. 1 and No. 6 matches remaining.
Junior Ashlee Narker attempted to stage a comeback in the No. 1 match but ultimately fell to Veronika Kluich of UNLV 7-5, 4-6, 6-2.
The final match of the meet was between junior Valeska San Martin Ramirez of Iowa State and freshman Adi Bitton of UNLV.
Bitton started the match strong, winning the first set 6-2. However, San Martin Ramirez battled back in the second set, winning 6-4 to set up the match-clinching third set.
The final set went to a tiebreaker after the two were tied at 6-6. San Martin Ramirez prevailed in the tiebreaker 7-4 to win the final set 7-6. This marked her third career match-clinching victory and the first of the season.
The Cyclones will return to Ames to play a pair of Big Ten teams, facing Illinois at 4 p.m. Feb. 13, followed by hosting the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series at 11 a.m. Feb. 15. The Cyclones will look to continue their recent dominance over the Hawkeyes, having won five of the last six meetings between the teams.
