Penn State women’s tennis will begin a four-match road trip this weekend with duals against Iowa and Nebraska, according to an April 2 announcement. The Nittany Lions, holding a 12-6 overall record and standing at 3-4 in Big Ten play, are scheduled to compete against the Hawkeyes on Friday evening at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex before meeting the Cornhuskers on Sunday morning at the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.
The upcoming matches are significant as Penn State recently climbed five spots to No. 46 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings after securing victories over Maryland and Rutgers last weekend. These wins improved their doubles point record to 12-1 when winning that opening round.
Last week, Penn State defeated Maryland by a score of 4-2 and Rutgers by 4-1, marking its first outdoor home match of the season at Sarni Tennis Center. The doubles team of Dorner and Monfils won both court one matches, including a notable victory over Maryland’s No. 37-ranked pair Emma Ghirardato and Ema Kovacevic. Dorner also achieved two singles wins over the weekend while Maria Daciana Ciubotaru clinched both duals with singles triumphs on courts four and five.
Looking ahead to their opponents, Iowa enters ranked No. 48 with a record of 9-10 (3-5 Big Ten), coming off a split result last week—a loss to Indiana followed by a win over Purdue that ended their five-match conference losing streak. The Hawkeyes’ Daianne Hayashida and Mia Mack are currently ranked as ITA’s No. 49 doubles pair; Mack is also ranked No. 52 in singles competition.
Nebraska holds ITA’s No. 50 ranking with a season record of 12-5 (5-3 Big Ten). After dropping their first three conference games, they have since won five straight matches leading up to this weekend’s contests.
In series history, Iowa leads Penn State with a record of 27 wins to ten since their first meeting in 1992; however, Penn State claimed victory during their most recent matchup at the Big Ten Tournament in spring of last year. Against Nebraska, Penn State trails slightly but recorded its last win against them in Happy Valley during the previous season.
