With the rest of the Big Ten season looming, the Iowa men’s tennis team will head to Florida for spring break to try to get acclimated to playing outdoors and get in some extra practice in preparation for the tough schedule ahead.

The Hawkeyes will face Central Florida (March 13), Southern Florida (March 14), and Florida Atlantic (March 17) on the road trip.

Head coach Steve Houghton hopes his team can enjoy spring break while still improving far away from home.

“Our first goal is to come back more accustomed to playing outdoors,” Houghton said. “We want to come back playing better than when we started.”

Even though he would like to treat this as a business trip for his squad, not everything is going to be about tennis. The players will still get time to enjoy their week off of school.

“We have two full days of free time,” he said. “We can go to Disney World or the beach. There will definitely be time to get a taste of spring break.”

— by Ben Ross