Spartans Fall in Thursday Meeting with Iowa

Thursday, April 14

East Lansing, Mich.

5 p.m. ET

Michigan State University

Iowa

Photo by: Marshal Filipowicz / MSU Athletic Communications

4/14/2022 9:15:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

EAST LANSING, Mich. – A singles win by graduate student Mary Lewis helped the Spartans avoid being shut out for the third-straight match, but the Michigan State women's tennis team was not able to overcome Iowa in a 4-1 loss Thursday evening at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.

Losing its seventh-straight contest, MSU fell to 9-10 overall and 1-7 in the Big Ten, while Iowa improved to 6-14 on the season and 2-7 in the conference with the Hawkeyes' second consecutive win.

While the No. 3 Spartan pairing of juniors Tia Mukherjee and Dagmar Zdrubecka came back from down 2-0 to force a tiebreaker at 6-6, their match with Barbora Pokorna and Michelle Bacalla would go unfinished when Iowa closed out victories on the top-2 doubles courts.

The Hawkeyes first took a 6-3 win on the No. 1 court thanks to Samantha Mannix and Samantha Gillas defeating the MSU duo of Lewis and senior Maja Pietrowicz.

Then on the second doubles court, Marisa Schmidt and Vipasha Mehra battled back from an early hole to sweep the tiebreaker against sophomore Ayshe Can and freshman Charlotte Gisclon, picking up a 7-6 (7-0) victory that sealed the doubles point for Iowa.

Gillas claimed the first singles match that wrapped up, making quick work of Gisclon in the No. 5 matchup with a 6-3, 6-1 victory, while Pokorna had to fend off Pietrowicz in the first set on the No. 2 singles court on her way to defeating the Spartan via a 6-4, 6-2 win.

MSU's bright spot came in the top singles battle, as Lewis was able to hand Schmidt a loss. After winning the first set, Lewis fell behind 0-3 early in the second set but claimed the next six games to take the set and finish the match, 6-4, 6-3.

The night ended when Bacalla was able to rally in the first set after Mukherjee tied it at 5-5, winning the set, 7-5, before again breaking up a tied set to win the No. 6 match, 7-5, 6-4.

For Lewis, it was her 34th career singles win as a Spartan.

Michigan State now heads to Lincoln, Nebraska on Sunday, April 17 for an 11 a.m. CT (noon ET) showdown with the Huskers.