Cyclone tennis to face off against Kansas and Kansas State
Senior Natalie Phippen played for Iowa State Tennis on April 23. Phippen has been a member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and an ISU Scholar-Athlete. She fell 0-6, 0-4 during her match against Katarina Stresnakova of OSU.
April 4, 2018
The Iowa State Cyclones will host the Kansas Jayhawks at 3 p.m. on Friday in Urbandale, Iowa. Then, a match against the Kansas State Wildcats will follow at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
Currently, the Jayhawks hold a record of 11-4 overall and 3-1 in the Big 12. They also lead the 48-match history against Iowa State 44-4. When the two met last season, the Jayhawks defeated the Cyclones 4-0.
Kansas State, who currently sits at a record of 12-5 overall and is 2-2 in conference play, enters the weekend looking to bounce back from a 4-0 defeat to Texas Tech. Kansas State leads in the series record with the Cyclones, 32-13, including a 4-1 win last season in Manhattan, Kansas.
Head coach of the Iowa State women’s tennis team, Armando Espinosa, said he is looking forward to playing both the Jayhawks and Wildcats this weekend and is hoping to continue the success from last weekend.
“We started off very strong last week against Drake,” Espinosa said. “I want to see that same type of energy that we played with against the Bulldogs.
“We have to come out strong against Kansas and Kansas State.”
The ability to be home for the past two weeks has helped the Cyclones tremendously. The team has been looking more relaxed and refreshed.
“We have to play consistent in order to beat both Kansas and Kansas State this weekend,” Espinosa said. “We cannot afford to take any mental breaks during matches. If we play well, we can beat anybody.”
The next match for the Cyclones will be against the Texas Longhorns on April 13, in Austin, Texas.
“We played very hard during the doubles matches and the momentum carried onto singles play,” Espinosa said. “Ekaterina Repina and Annabella Bonadonna stepped up big for us and they played well, both in doubles and singles. At one point the match was in their hands.”