By Jake Markowitz
[email protected]

The Iowa men’s tennis team will hit the road for another tough test
this weekend.

Coming off a 2-1 weekend in which they took on Omaha, Drake, and
Dartmouth, the Hawkeyes will head to Oregon trying to improve on their
5-2 record this weekend, playing the Ducks at 2 p.m. (Pacific Time)
Saturday.

The Hawkeyes dominated Omaha on Feb. 3, 6-1, before falling shortagainst a formidable Drake squad, 4-3. The Bulldogs are ranked in the
top 50 for a sixth-consecutive year.

“Our last two matches against Drake have been by 4-3 decisions,” head
coach Ross Wilson said in a release. “The guys competed well, and I’m
proud of the product that we put out on the court.”

Iowa will have to learn from the tough matchup, because Oregon will
prove to be another difficult task. The Ducks are enjoying a hot 4-1
start to the spring season, and they have a lot of momentum coming off
a 7-0 drubbing of Cal Poly on Feb. 4.

Oregon’s only loss this spring season was to No. 11 Texas, but with
matchups on three-consecutive days, the Ducks will make sure they take
every match seriously.

“We will have a nice day off and see the trainers, then hopefully get
a good week of practice to be ready for Thursday,” Oregon head coach
Nils Schyllander said in a release. “We have to be ready because it
won’t be easy playing three days in a row.”

Iowa will face Oregon on the last day of the Ducks’ trio of contests,
but  the Hawkeyes should not expect to play a weak Ducks team.

This past weekend, Oregon sophomore Thomas Laurent improved his
singles record to 8-0 when playing on the No. 1 court. Ranked as the
No. 33 singles player in the nation, he sports a 24-3 (.889) all-time
record when teaming up with junior Cormac Clissold in doubles.

However, the Hawkeyes have many strengths of their own. Junior Josh
Silverstein received a national ranking this week and now sits at No.
103. Silverstein began the season ranked No. 18 regionally, and his
win over then-No. 25 Jolan Cailleau of Texas Tech vaulted him into the
national conversation.

“It took me two and a half years of fighting and grinding to get
nationally ranked, but I finally accomplished that goal,” Silverstein
said in a release. “The next step is to keep beating tough players and
move forward as a team.”

Silverstein wasn’t the only player on the team to receive recognition
this week. Junior Lefteris Theodorou was recognized as the January
male student-athlete of the month. Theodorou had a great showing in
the Intercollegiate Tennis Association tournament, defeating two
players who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season. He also
paired with Silverstein to take down the No. 60-ranked doubles team in
the country from Texas Tech (6-4).