Singles play was the highlight for the Hawkeyes, who dropped their opening doubles match.
By Pete Ruden
The Iowa men’s tennis team played in the very prestigious Battle in the Bay Tournament in San Francisco from Sept. 23 through Sunday.
Junior Jake Jacoby and redshirt freshman Kareem Allaf made the trip to compete for the Hawkeyes against some of the best players in the country.
The duo started the tournament in doubles action. Head coach Ross Wilson said that each player’s game complements the other’s, so they had potential. However, the duo fell to a team from Boise State (8-6).
But that wasn’t the end of the tournament for Iowa.
After being edged in his opening singles match by Johan Jonhagen from San Francisco, Jacoby had a first-round bye in the consolation bracket. In the second round, Jacoby was able to notch a win over Pedro Iamachkine of Pepperdine (6-4, 6-4).
After redshirting last season, Allaf played his first singles match in an Iowa uniform this past weekend. He lost the match in three sets but received byes in the first and second round of the consolation bracket.
On Sept. 24, Allaf won back-to-back matches to advance to the semifinals of the bracket. In the quarterfinals, he won a long match (7-5, 7-6) over Sander Gjoels-Andersen of San Diego State.
In his semifinals match, Allaf fell to Jack Heslin of Boise State (6-4, 6-4).
Next for the Hawkeyes, they will have an opportunity to compete in the All-American Championships from Saturday through Oct. 10.
