Thursday, 03/29/2012

The University of Northern Iowa women's tennis team (10-5) will open Missouri Valley Conference play against the Drake University Bulldogs this Saturday at 1:00 p.m.The match will be held in Des Moines at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center on the Drake campus.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
This will be the 21st match of the season for Drake University. The Bulldogs have an impressive 16-4 record so far this spring. They just returned from their spring break trip in Las Vegas where they went 3-1. Their one loss came to San Jose State who defeated the Bulldogs 4-3. Drake also lost to Iowa State earlier this year, 5-2. Last season, the Panthers defeated Drake 5-2.

PANTHERS GO 2-1 ON SPRING BREAK TRIP
The Panthers had a 2-1 record on their spring break trip to Tennessee. The first day UNI defeated the University of Tennessee-Martin 6-1. The following day they swept Murray State 7-0. The Panthers fell to Middle Tennessee State 5-2. Jessica Kunzelmann had two singles wins on the weekend, and that helped move her up the all-time career singles list. The three doubles teams of Cassandra Dix/Krissy Lankelma, Jessica Kunzelmann/Nina Pfahler, and Stefannia Sampaio/Chelsea Moore all went undefeated on the trip. Stefannia Sampaio was the lone Panther to earn three singles wins on the trip when she defeated Taylor Coffey of Middle Tennessee State, 6-2, 6-0.

KUNZELMANN TIED AT TOP
Jessica Kunzelmann is currently tied for first at the top of the all-time career singles win list. She has 86 wins and is tied with Carolinna Hannes. Her next win will giver her the solo spot on top of the list.

PANTHERS HAVE SUCCESS IN WISCONSIN
The Panthers returned from their road trip to Wisconsin last weekend with two wins. UNI defeated Milwaukee 4-3 on Friday and they swept Green Bay 7-0 on Saturday. Jessica Kunzelmann had two singles wins on the weekend, helping her to move up the all-time career singles wins list. Krissy Lankelma and Chelsea Moore also had two singles wins on the weekend. The doubles teams of Kunzelmann/Nina Pfahler and Moore/Stefannia Sampaio had two wins on the weekend as well.

IN-STATE RIVALS GET BEST OF PANTHERS
The Panthers took on both the University of Iowa and Iowa State last weekend. The Hawkeyes defeated the Panthers 7-0 in Iowa City last Saturday. The Panthers then fell to Iowa State 7-0 at home on Sunday. The lone win of that match came from the doubles team of Krissy Lankelma and Cassandra Dix who defeated Maria Fernanda Macedo and Jenna Langhorst of Iowa State 8-4 in the No. 1 match. With no singles wins this weekend, Jessica Kunzelmann remains in fourth place on the all-time career singles win list.

UNI SCORES PERFECT WEEKEND
The Panther had a successful weekend, both at home and on the road last weekend. On Saturday they hosted Western Illinois and swept the Leathernecks 7-0. They then traveled to Des Moines on Sunday to take on both Chicago State and UMKC. They defeated the Cougars of Chicago State 5-2. The Panthers then played the University of Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos later that day and won that match 4-3. Krissy Lankelma was the only Panther to go 2-0 on the day in singles play. The doubles teams of Cassandra Dix/Krissy Lankelma and Chelsea Moore/Stefannia Sampaio were also 2-0 on the day. Jessica Kunzelmann earned two singles wins last weekend to put her closer to the top of the all-time career singles wins list.