HAWK TALK

March 2021

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41 E lise van Heuvelen Treadwell is climbing the University of Iowa's all-time singles wins list. But don't expect to hear it from her. Iowa's super senior, the lone senior on a 2020 team that saw its season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, had a handful of reasons to return to Iowa City in 2021, but climbing the all-time wins list was not one of them. She knew nothing of a career wins list until a social media post from the Iowa twitter account indicated she was knocking on the door to the top five. "No idea. I just thought, 'oh no, do we really have to put that out there?'" van Heuvelen said. Does she remember her first win? "No idea, it was so long ago. It was like five years." What about the running total? "I have never looked into it." Well, it's been looked into. Van Heuvelen has 86 career singles wins, the fih highest total in program history. Only Milica Veselinovic (113), Laura Dvorak (102), Sonja Molnar (100) and Liz Canzoneri (92) have more. Van Heuvelen had 76 wins when her senior season ended prematurely in 2020. at total ranked ninth in program history. She was named to the All-Big Ten team following the season, her fourth career honor. Only three Hawkeyes before her had ever earned four All-Big Ten honors — Dvorak, Molnar and Toni Neykova. She was already a Hawkeye all-timer. But she wasn't done. "ere was no doubt that I wanted to come back," van Heuvelen said. "Whether it was a horrible year, a good year, whatever it was, I wasn't done here." Her 'true senior season' was far from a horrible year. In fact, it was among her finest. A career No. 1 player, van Huevelen had a 10-1 singles record before the season was canceled. e Hawkeyes had just won their conference opener. e team had won four of its last six, and van Heuvelen was playing at another level. "at was the best year I've had in terms of on-court and figuring out my game, but I still have a lot of room to grow," van Heuvelen said. "I still have so much more to put together." e decision to return has been measurable. Iowa is off to its best start in 15 years. Van Heuvelen is now playing at the No. 2 singles spot. Just as she did five years ago, a freshman, this time Alexa Noel, has taken over center court. e lineup, it seems, is as deep as it has ever been. "Since I have been here, we have had goals, but there is an extra level of excitement this year with the goals that we have," van Heuvelen said. "We are on the right path and we need to do more." "More" appears to be on the way. More wins. More rankings. Maybe more records, not that she's counting. "I feel like every year, every semester you're learning more and more and more. Coming to Iowa is the best decision I've made. If I had another choice I would stay longer." MARCH SCHEDULE March 13 at Illinois March 14 at Northwestern March 19 Wisconsin March 21 Minnesota March 28 Nebraska

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