THIS WEEK IN PEACOCK TENNIS… The Upper Iowa women's tennis team will square off against third-seeded Southwest Minnesota State University in the opening round of the 2022 NSIC Women's Tennis Tournament. The three-day tournament will be played in Sioux Falls, S.D. at Huether Family Match Pointe. The Peacocks play their quarterfinal dual at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, Apr. 22.
FOLLOW THE ACTION… Fans can watch the Peacocks live on Friday morning as each match of the NSIC Tournament will have a live webcast. A link to the webcast can be found at UIUPeacocks.com/Live and included with this story.
ENDING ON A HIGH NOTE… Despite falling 6-1 against No. 20 Augustana University in the season finale, the Peacocks earned a pair of impressive wins against a team that has won 140 consecutive NSIC contests.
Charalampia Grammatikaki earned her second NSIC Player of the Week award after a 4-0 weekend that included wins at No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles against the No. 20 Vikings. Grammatikaki earned a point for the Peacocks and closed her inaugural intercollegiate campaign with a dramatic three-set victory in the No. 1 singles spot over Valeriya Monko, the No. 67 DII singles player in the country. The freshman secured a 6-4 win in set one before falling 6-4 in set two. Grammatikaki earned the hard-fought win after coming back in the third set, coming out on top 14-12 in the tightly contested tiebreak. In No. 2 doubles, Grammatikaki and Michieli came out on top after a back-and-forth battle that required a tiebreaker to decide the winner. The Peacock pair won 7-6 thanks to a 7-3 edge in the tiebreak.
2021-22 SEASON REVIEW… Upper Iowa finished the season with a 9-7 overall record and was 6-5 in NSIC contests, finishing with the conference's sixth-best mark. The Peacocks clinched their first postseason berth since slotting in as the second seed after the 2016-17 season.
Young players' growth and immediate impact powered a team comprised of five underclassmen and two juniors. UIU finished with a .511 winning percentage in singles (48-46, 31-27 NSIC) and a .534 doubles mark (25-23, 16-14 NSIC). Freshman
Charalampia Grammatikaki led the way with a 14-2 singles record in the No. 1 spot, including a 10-1 mark against NSIC competition.
Varvara Ogorodnikova's 11-4 singles record was a close second as the sophomore went 7-1 at No. 3, 4-3 at No. 2, and 7-3 overall in NSIC action.
Jessa Michieli and
Lina Ziani each went 8-8 (5-6 NSIC) in singles matches. Michieli was 4-5 at No. 2 and 4-3 at No. 3, while Ziani played all her matches in the No. 4 spot. In No. 5 singles, newcomer
Padmasree Murugan was 7-8 overall and 5-5 against NSIC foes.
Elaina Wall (0-12) and
Mya Herrmann (0-4) both saw action as the No. 6 singles.
In doubles, Ogorodnikova and Ziani tied for the team lead with an 11-5 record, and the two were 10-5 (7-4 NSIC) as a doubles pairing. The duo went 4-3 at No. 1 and 6-2 at No. 2 doubles. Grammatikaki and Michieli matched the team-high mark with 11-5 doubles records and were a team-best 8-3 in the NSIC, including a 10-5 record as a duo. The pair was 4-4 in the No. 1 spot and 6-1 at No. 2. Murugan and Wall combined to go 3-7 (2-7 NSIC) at No. 3 doubles, while Murugan and Herrmann were 0-6 as a pairing.
PEACOCKS POSTSEASON HISTORY… Upper Iowa will be making its first postseason appearance since the 2016-17 season. UIU went 9-5 overall that year and finished second in the NSIC with a 9-2 conference record before a narrow 5-4 loss in the first round of the NSIC tournament. The Peacocks made the NSIC Tournament for five consecutive seasons before a three-year hiatus plus a season where no tournament was held due to the global pandemic. The Peacocks went 4-5 over the five-year tournament run from 2013 to 2017, with a pair of second-place finishes coming in 2015 and 2016.
SCOUTING SMSU… Southwest Minnesota State finished the 2021-22 season with a 16-10 record and was 12-9 (8-3 NSIC) in 2022. The Mustangs finished in a three-way tie for third with Minnesota State University, Mankato and the University of Mary, but they earned the No. 3 seed thanks to a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Mavericks and Marauders. SMSU closed the regular season on April 9-10 by earning 6-1 and 4-3 victories over the University of Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State University. SMSU's individuals combined for a 93-90 record in singles play and a 43-47 doubles mark. Cora Delich (15-14, 8-3 NSIC) and Courtenay Leonard (14-14, 6-5 NSIC) led the Mustangs in singles play, while Roz Oye paired with Delich for a team-leading 15-11 (8-3 NSIC) doubles mark.
LAST MATCHUP AGAINST THE MUSTANGS… Upper Iowa clinched a hotly contested 4-3 decision over Southwest Minnesota State earlier this season on Feb. 26. UIU picked up wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles to take an early advantage before a No. 1 singles win gave them a 2-0 lead. The Peacocks had to battle back after a 3-2 deficit and wins at Nos. 3 and 4 singles clinched the UIU victory. Grammatikaki (No. 1), Ogorodnikova (No. 3), and Ziani (No. 4) earned straight-set wins in singles after Ogorodnikova and Ziani (No. 1) and Grammatikaki and Michieli (No. 2) won to clinch the doubles point. The Peacocks are 12-4 in the all-time series against the Mustangs.
LOOKING AHEAD… If the Peacocks win on Friday, they will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, Apr. 23, with a 2 p.m. match versus either the No. 2 seed Winona State University or the No. 7 seed University of Sioux Falls. The championship match is slated for 10 a.m. on Sunday, Apr. 24. All matches in the tournament will be pulled once a team has reached four points.
