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137 T he NCAA fall tennis season isn't measured on wins and losses, which is too bad, be- cause the Hawkeyes won more than they lost last year. Instead, University of Iowa women's tennis head coach Sasha Schmid spent her first fall on campus searching for an edge from her players. e Hawk- eyes played in four fall tournaments, and every time out, Schmid looked for attitude and effort, indicators that the team that was winless in conference play last season wasn't stuck in a stage of content. Early indications are she found what she was looking for. "I thought they competed well," said Schmid, a 15-year coaching veteran who was named the pro- gram's eighth head coach in July 2016. "For me to go out there and see the team fight through adver- sity and get through tough matches was encourag- ing. Sometimes we fell short, sometimes we got them, but each time out we competed and if we can continue to do that we'll be in every match we play this year." e margin between the bottom of the standings and the middle of the pack was razor thin in the Big Ten in 2016. Iowa lost five matches by a score of 4-3, so the goal in the fall was to learn how to flip that script. In other words, learn how to win. "We have to be able to trust our game on those pressure points," Schmid said. "Sometimes we do a little bit more than we need to. at's a natural tendency for anyone who wants something badly, but we need to trust that our game and strategy is good enough and we don't need to go 15 percent more on those pressure points. "We need to settle in and trust ourselves. at will bring our error count down, our consistency will improve, and we will be able to fight through and come out on the positive side of matches." e Hawkeyes cruised through the Gopher Invita- tional and Wildcat Invitational in two September tournaments, but the competition increased at the ITA Central Regional in mid-October and the Kitty Harrison Invitational in No- vember. "e last tournament we played was our toughest competition," Schmid said. "We played three top 10 teams and were right there with those teams. It went a long way in terms of our belief growing and it's something we can use to jump start the spring season." e spring season begins Jan. 15 at Central Flor- ida. Iowa opens its home schedule Jan. 21 against Creighton. e Hawkeyes play six nonconference matches at home before opening Big Ten play at Maryland on March 4. e Big Ten home opener is March 11 against Indiana, and the 11-match conference schedule concludes April 22 at home against Nebraska. e Big Ten Championships begin April 26 in Cham- paign, Illinois. "We have a great nonconference schedule that will help us continue to grow," Schmid said. "e big- gest and most challenging part of the season will come in Big Ten play. It's a schedule that will help the team evolve from one match to another so we can keep improving and be peaking when we get into late April." JANUARY CALENDAR Jan. 15 at Central Florida Jan. 21 vs. Creighton Jan. 28 vs. Northern Illinois