IOWA CITY, Iowa — The 75th-ranked University of Iowa women’s tennis team dropped its first Big Ten Conference match of the season, falling 4-1 to No. 35 Northwestern on Sunday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.

The loss drops Iowa’s record to 8-7 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten action.

The Wildcats opened the dual by winning the doubles point with victories on courts one and three. At the two line, Barbora Pokorna and Pia Kranholdt led Northwestern’s Britany Lau and Maria Shusharina, 6-5, but the match went unfinished.

The Wildcats earned wins in singles at No. 1, 3 and 6 to take the match victory.

Iowa picked up a win at the No. 2 line when junior Marisa Schmidt posted an impressive victory, downing No. 88 Justine Leong in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.

QUOTING HEAD COACH SASHA SCHMID

“Congratulations to a very good Northwestern team. We fought but fell short in some key areas that just didn’t go our way. I credit the team for how they played, and now we have a good stretch ahead of us to get on the road to play two good conference teams. We will use this match and learn from it before we hit the road.”

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will return to action Friday, traveling to Madison to face Wisconsin before continuing on to Minneapolis to square off against Minnesota on Sunday.