The Iowa men’s tennis team competed in its season-opener at the Purdue Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind., on Sept. 16-18.

Performances by freshman Matt Hagan and senior Chris Speer highlighted the weekend for the Hawkeyes.

The doubles team of Hagan and sophomore Chase Tomlins advanced to the final of Flight B before falling to Arkansas’ Michael Nott and Mike Ward. Hagan also won his first two singles matches in Flight B of singles competition.

Individually, Speer lost his first match to drop him into the Flight B consolation bracket. Once there, he won five-straight matches in the tournament’s final two days to claim the bracket title, including a win in a third-set tiebreaker in the final.

Speer also won the Flight C doubles championship with sophomore Joey White.

Iowa head coach Steve Houghton said he was pleased with his team’s performance.

"The good really outweighed the bad this weekend," Houghton told The Daily Iowan. "We were right where we wanted to be this weekend, and our guys took advantage of the opportunities they were given."

— by Ryan Murphy