On Friday, April 25, the UNI tennis team competed in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) tournament. The tournament was hosted by Valparaiso, in Indiana, and the Panthers matched up with Belmont. UNI came into the tournament with a 7-14 record, while Belmont came into it with a record of 6-14. In the end, it was Belmont that ended up defeating the Panthers, and putting an end to their season. 

The dual started with the doubles matches. UNIs Darta Dalecka and Lorena Cardoso helped the Panthers get out to a solid start, as they took a 6-4 victory against the Belmont duo of Victoria Kliimand and Hana Sokolovic. Belmont responded by winning the second match, as Aly Getty and Anatasi Zholdakova defeated UNIs Kim Zizek and Andjela Raznatovic. The third doubles match of the day was to see which team would get the point for doubles. In a close match, it was Belmonts Libbie Hamilton and Sarah McElrath that came away with the win over UNIs Kanyanut Sudsaard and Abbie Peterson, 7-5. Belmont took a 1-0 lead into the singles matches.

Moving on to the singles matches, Dalecka got a win on her own this time, defeating Belmonts Zholdakova, 6-3 and 7-5. Belmont took the rest of the singles matches. Kliimand had a dominant performance against UNIs Cardoso, winning 6-0 and 6-0. Belmont’s Hamilton defeated UNI’s Raznatovic, 7-5 and 6-1, and McElrath got the victory over Peterson, 7-5 and 6-3. Two of the matches were not able to finish, as Belmont had already taken the dual victory 4-1.

The loss in the first round of the conference tournament puts an end to the Panthers season. They ended the year with a 7-15 overall record, and a 4-4 record in conference duals. This was the first trip to the MVC tournament for the team since 2022, and it was the most dual wins in a season since 2017.