The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Tennis splits road trip

The Hawkeye men’s tennis team braved the weather of the snowy Northeast this past weekend to take on the No. 65 Cornell and Yale.

Going into the weekend, interim head coach Ross Wilson said he looked forward to a higher level of competition to see where the Hawkeyes were at in the early stages of the season.

On Jan. 30, the Black and Gold took their 2-0 record to Ithica, New York, to take on Cornell.

Playing a match against a ranked opponent for the first — but not the last — time this season, the Hawkeyes lost, 4-2.

The Big Red took the doubles point winning two of the three matches. The Iowa teams of Lefteris Theodorou and Stieg Martens lost (7-6 [7]), and Josh Silverstein and Jake Jacoby also fell (6-2).

Iowa gained its two match points with singles wins from Hagan in the No. 1 spot and Jacoby in the No. 6 slot. Hagan won in a 7-5, 7-5 match, and Jacoby picked up a 6-4, 7-6 (3) win.

Hagan, the Hawkeyes’ leader on the court, is nationally ranked No. 116 and continues to look to pick up signature singles wins as the team gets closer to conference play.

The Hawkeyes dropped their No. 3-5 matchups with Theodorou, Martens, and Silverstein taking losses to seal the victory for Cornell.

Patrick, in the No. 2 slot for Iowa, was in the third set of his match when Cornell clinched its fourth team point. He did not finish.

Wilson and Hagan have iterated that wins and losses this early in the season are not the most important thing.

With as many young guys as the Hawkeyes have on the roster, road matches against ranked opponents such as Cornell help in many ways.

Wilson has said gaining experience and boosting the confidence of the players early in the season will help the team as much as anything once the Big Ten season rolls around.

The Hawkeyes then traveled to New Haven, Connecticut, on Sunday to take on Yale.

The Iowa men beat the Bulldogs decisively, 5-2.

Yale had previously been undefeated on the young season, going 4-0 against Buffalo, Colgate, Monmouth, and Fairfield.

With its win against Yale, Iowa improved its record to 3-1.

After splitting the weekend series against the Big Red and Bulldogs, the Hawkeyes are scheduled to be back in Iowa City on Friday to take on Marquette.

Marquette is 1-3 so far this season.

The Hawkeyes will try to continue the development of its young talent and bolster the résumé of leaders such as Hagan and Patrick.

More to Discover