Before head coach Boomer Saia arrived in 2018, Iowa State women's tennis had never been ranked in the top 50.
After a 6-1 start in 2022-23, the Cyclones have climbed to No. 14 and punched their ticket to the ITA Indoor Nationals for the first time in school history.
"It's special and I'm a little speechless about it," Saia said. "They're an inspiring group, they've come in, they believed, they worked really hard but to take that next step all together, fight for one another that's what you preach."
Until 2021, the program owned zero wins over top-50 teams, but after upsets over No. 18 UCLA and No. 10 Miami (FL), Iowa State now has 12 of those wins in three seasons.
"We went there with the expectation of just fight and try as hard as possible," said Sofia Cabezas, a junior. "And the results came with that."
The 4-3 win in Coral Gabels, Fla. was just Miami's third home loss in three years.
"Not too many people go into Miami and win the last 10 years, so that was special what they accomplished," Saia said.
In college tennis, team upsets are more rare because of the combination of individual upsets that need to happen to pull one off.
"When you're talking about the college level there has to basically be almost four individual upsets within the team," Saia said. "Compared to Wimbledon you play only one match."
The motivation for Saia to turn the program around has come from the players.
"They're inspiring, they get me out of bed in the morning and sprinting to work because they're such a joy to work with."
The Cyclones will play in the ITA National Indoors with a chance to win a National Championship starting Friday, Feb. 10 in Seattle.