Success is the name of the game for Iowa’s tennis program, especially in the summer months.
On the women’s side, Elise van Heuvelen and Zoe Douglas set the stage for what was a triumphant run for the Hawkeyes at the 2017 ITA Summer Circuit.
The action took place Sunday and Monday at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.
Coming into the tournament the top seed among the singles, van Heuvelen notched a first-place finish for the second year in a row.
In the victory, she swept the competition in five-straight sets, including a 6-2, 6-2 decision over the second-seed Caroline Ryba in the final match.
The 5-7 sophomore came to Iowa from Seaford, East Sussex, England. In her first season as a Hawkeye, she earned first team All-Big Ten honors as well as Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
Van Heuvelen ended her frosh season 16-5, and she was named Outstanding Newcomer at the Golden Herky Awards in early May by fellow Hawkeye athletes.
In doubles action, van Heuvelen and Douglas claimed their spot that the top of the leaderboard, taking home the doubles title after the pair notched an 8-0 shutout to clinch the championship match.
Douglas, a 5-3 senior from Papworth Everard, England, won a career-high 16 single matches in her the 2017 season.
Teamed together, van Heuvelen and Douglas posted a 10-2 record at No.1 doubles in the 2017 season, reaching as high as No. 80 nationally.
The Hawkeyes’ momentum didn’t stop there.
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Incoming freshman Danielle Burich added another championship title to the Hawkeye’s impressive streak.
Burich won the opening two rounds in straight sets, followed by a battle to tiebreaker in the semifinals and finals. Burich claimed the championship title in her consolation draw.
Burich comes to Iowa as a four-star recruit from Bradenton, Florida, alongside freshmen Yufei Long of Shenzhen, China, and Danielle Bauers, a five-star recruit from Alpharetta, Georgia.
On the men’s side, Jake Jacoby and Jonas Larsen emerged victorious, adding another championship title for the Hawkeyes.
Senior Jacoby won the singles championship after defeating Nikita Snezhko (6-3, 5-7, 10-3) and Hawkeye teammates Jason Kerst (6-4, 6-0) and Larson (7-5, 7-6).
The Little Rock, Arkansas, native has proven to be a consistent and dominant force in prior seasons.
The doubles combination of Jacoby and Larsen came out strong with four wins to earn the event.
With the odds in their favor and previous statistics on their side, the pairing whittled away at their competition, leaving a path of destruction in their wake.
This was the first showing for the duo, as they had previously competed alone or with different teammates; they didn’t let this phase them.
The pair came into the Summer Circuit seeded first, and they remained true to that. Sweeping other seeded teams including the second-seeded Braheim/Dean, 8-5, in the winner-takes-all championship match, the two clinched the top spot.