The Iowa State tennis team (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) kicked off its spring season on Friday with a disappointing 4-2 loss to Temple (2-1, 0-0 AAC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The Cyclones struggled individually. They lost lost five out of the six singles matches with the lone win coming from sophomore Regina Espindola in a three-set thriller 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Doubles yielded better results for the Cyclones. They ended up taking two of the three matches.

Senior Samantha Budai and her partner freshman Maty Cancini started off the doubles matches with a 6-3 win. At the three spot, Espindola and freshman Karen Alvarez also put together a 6-3 win.

Iowa State’s next matchup was against Villanova (0-1, 0-0 Big East) on Saturday morning. The Cyclones dominated the dual going 6-1, notching their first win of the season.

Iowa State regrouped and dominated singles play as they swept Villanova in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Cyclones also managed to win one out of the three matches in doubles play as well. 

The pairings of Budai and Cancini as well as Alvarez and Espindola both fell to the Wildcats. But the pairing of Annabella Bonadona and Margarita Timakova was leading 5-4 before the match got called. 

The Iowa State finished the weekend picking by up its second win of the season over Lehigh (0-1, 0-0 Patriot) 6-1.

The Cyclones put on a clinic in doubles matches, sweeping Lehigh and riding that momentum into the singles matches where the Cyclones only dropped one match 6-3 when Cancini lost to Jamie Campsis of Lehigh. 

Iowa State will be back in action next weekend in Iowa City where it will face Montana (1-1, 0-0 Big Sky) and in-state rival Iowa (3-0, 0-0 Big 10) on Sunday.