“It’s the kind of thing where it hurts and it’s going to hurt, but we’ve got to move on,” head coach Simone Jardim said. “It happened, and it sucks, and it really hurts, but if we didn’t care, then it would be easy, but we do care.”

Things got started quickly for the Spartans against Iowa (9-11, 2-7) by winning two of the three doubles matches to get the important doubles point.

Wins by freshman Emily Meyers and junior Marina Bohrer in singles competition gave MSU two points, but a three-set loss by senior Michaela Silesova on court six gave the win to the Hawkeyes.

Still, Jardim said being in contention in five of six singles matches was the most MSU has been in all season, and it gave them something to build on.

“We saw an opportunity and we thought that we could beat them, and I thought that we were better (than Iowa),” she said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t finish the match, which is really heartbreaking.”

One bright spot of the meet was Bohrer’s upset of No. 85 Ruth Seaborne in the No. 1 singles match.

She said the way her teammates pushed her to do better, and the Spartan fans in attendance helped her believe they could win.

“It was one of the best days I’ve seen them together as a unit,” Bohrer said. “Everybody came together to compete. We had a lot of people watching us, so that helped.”

Sunday was a different story.

MSU lost all but one singles match and one doubles match to the Cornhuskers (19-4, 8-1).

The common denominator of the wins was Meyers, whose two-set victory against Nebraska’s Izabella Zgierska gave the Spartans their only point of the afternoon.

She finished the weekend 4-0 in matches she competed in. She also picked up the first two Big Ten wins of her MSU career.

Her coach told the team in practice to let go and play the best sets they can, and Meyers said that message stuck with her this weekend.

“It feels so good to get one win under your belt,” Meyers said. “It helps get your confidence up, and helps you keep going and to believe in yourself more.

“Sometimes it is a lot harder when there isn’t a lot of cheering going on because you can feel very alone on the court, but once you get the crowd behind you, it’s pretty easy to get pumped up about the match.”

With their home finale against Ohio State scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday, Jardim said the Spartans will use the tough competition they faced this weekend to get better the next time they hit the courts.

“The day we get that doubles point and are in six singles matches, it will happen for us,” she said. “We’re going to prepare the kids and do the best we can (on) Tuesday, Wednesday (and) Thursday, and be ready to go
on Friday.”