By Pete Ruden
The Iowa men’s tennis team competed this past weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regionals in Stillwater, Okla., one of the biggest tournaments of the fall season.
Last year, senior Robin Haden was the team’s top finisher after picking up victories in the first two rounds to advance to the round of 32.
This year, though, junior Josh Silverstein was able to advance to the round of 16 in the main draw. After receiving a first-round bye, Silverstein defeated Kenneth Boykin of Oregon (6-1, 6-3), to move on to the round of 32.
In that round, Silverstein picked up another win, beating Drake’s Ben Wood (6-4, 6-2).
However, the Hawkeye was defeated in the round of 16 by Julian Cash of Oklahoma State.
Silverstein had a solid start to the tournament, and the rest of the team followed his lead.
In doubles action, all three teams from Iowa defeated their first-round opponents.
Redshirt freshman Kareem Allaf teamed with Silverstein to pick up an 8-0 victory over a Nebraska duo. The pair picked up another win in the second round by defeating a Tulsa team.
Haden and junior Jake Jacoby also won their first two doubles matches by topping a Minnesota team (8-0), before beating an Arkansas squad (8-1).
Senior Nils Hallestrand and freshman Jason Kerst also opened up with a victory by defeating a Creighton team (8-2).
In singles action on Oct. 20, Hallestrand, Kerst and sophomore Jonas Larsen all beat their opponents in straight sets.
However, Jacoby, Allaf, and sophomore Tony Leto were defeated in their first-round singles matches.
But after suffering those first-round losses, all three Hawkeyes came back to pick up wins in the consolation bracket.
Jacoby beat Tomislav Antoljak of Nebraska (7-5, 6-1). Leto and Allaf both won their matches in competitive three-set matches over Luke Moorehead of Nebraska-Omaha and Alex Koca of Creighton, respectively.
While Jacoby, Leto and Allaf won on Oct. 21, Hallestrand, Kerst, and Larsen all fell in their main draw matches.
In Oct. 21 doubles action, the team of Silverstein and Allaf fell to a duo from Washington, while the team of Haden and Jacoby lost to a group from Oklahoma.
On Oct. 22, Allaf started a run that he continued throughout the rest of the tournament. The native of Dubai defeated Tulsa’s Chase Gordon (6-2, 6-4) before beating Daniel Izadifar of Missouri-Kansas City (6-2, 6-3).
Allaf then won two matches on Sunday to take gold in the consolation bracket. He defeated Eli Ogilvy of Minnesota in three sets and Ben Stride of Drake in straight sets to make it five-consecutive wins.
Allaf’s hot streak is coming at a good time for the Hawkeyes; they will compete in the Big Ten Singles and Doubles Championships from Nov. 4 through Nov. 7. Before that, Iowa will have an off-week to prepare.
