The ISU tennis season has officially kicked off, and even after a tough 4-3 loss in its match against UTEP on Sunday, the team expects to make some significant steps forward in 2016.

Tennis at Iowa State has had its struggles, probably more so than most athletics at Iowa State, simply because it’s a sport that’s difficult to play in Iowa weather.

The Big 12 records over the past few years have favored the schools residing in warmer climates, particularly the four schools located in Texas. But with those documented struggles comes the chance to break free from the mold. Something tennis head coach Armando Espinosa relishes.

“That’s one of the nice things about being in this [Iowa State] program, there hasn’t been a lot of success in the past,” Espinosa said. “Which give us opportunities to achieve milestones.”

And that’s exactly what Espinosa has done since arriving at Iowa State in 2009. Espinosa led the tennis team to its first win against Kansas in 30 years during the 2011-2012 season and the team’s first conference road win since 1997 in the 2010 season.

Espinosa has also had his players recognized 30 different times for All-Big 12 academic awards, something he feels come with the territory of tennis players.

“I think that is just the culture of a tennis player,” Espinosa said. “We try and stress academics first, but at the same time it’s also just the way these kids are brought up. What [non-athletes] are doing in class, they’ve already been doing their entire career.

“It is more of them striving for success than it is me pushing them to succeed.”

Striving for success is exactly what these women have been doing since coming to Iowa State. The tennis team has to deal with less than convenient travel days that center around catching transfer flights.

“It’s tough because you are always having to make a connection somewhere to go elsewhere,” Espinosa said.

The women also do not have a true training facility, splitting time at Ames Racquet and Fitness and Lifetime Fitness in Des Moines. ISU President Steven Leath has made comments suggesting the team might soon be receiving its own tennis facilities similar to the Sukup Basketball Complex, but Espinosa declined to comment.

When Espinosa was asked what he would like to accomplish this year, he responded without hesitation.

“We have never won a first round Big-12 conference tournament match, so that is certainly one thing we would like to accomplish,” Espinosa said.

Now, these all may seem like small goals to an outsider. But when you realize these are accomplishments the team has not been able to do in decades, and to achieve them without many of the standard amenities that most Big-12 teams have?

It turns these ordinary events into something special.