Iowa men’s tennis finishes 1-2 in road matches over the weekend, falling twice to ranked Big Ten foes.
Lauren Jimmerson
The Iowa men’s tennis team dropped a tight match to No. 48 Penn State on Sunday in University Park, Pennsylvania. The Hawkeyes moved to 13-12 overall, 2-5 in conference matchups.
No. 51 Kareem Allaf and Jonas Larsen snagged the first doubles win over Alp Sentay and Christos Antonopoulo (7-5), followed by No. 62 Piotr Smietana and Will Davies over Constant De La Basse and Gabriel Nemeth (7-6). The Hawkeyes secured the doubles point but could not finish strong.
Penn State propelled into a 3-1 lead at the start of singles competition. Senior Josh Silverstein fell in straight matches to Christian Lakoseljac of Penn State (6-2, 6-0). Smietana and freshman Joe Tyler both dropped their matches in straight sets.
Allaf grabbed the second Iowa team point, defeating Nemeth in straight sets (6-4, 7-5). Davies topped Ben Lieb (7-6, 6-2), tying the teams at 3.
The meet came down to the final match with Larsen and Sentay splitting the first two sets. The match was ultimately decided on a 6-3 loss to the Lions in the final set.
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Before falling to the Lions, the Hawkeyes fell, 4-0, to No. 3 Ohio State on the evening of April 6 in Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes improved to 20-2 and remain undefeated in conference matches.
Iowa failed to claim the doubles point, handing Ohio State an early lead. Smietana and Davies dropped the first Iowa match (6-3) to Mikael Torpegaard and John McNally. JJ Wolf and Martin Joyce clinched the first Buckeye point, taking down Allaf and Larsen, 6-2.
Ohio State claimed the next three singles wins. Silverstein fell to No. 3 Torpegaard (6-3, 6-0), followed by Smietana to No. 43 Wolf (6-0, 6-2). Clinching the match for the Buckeyes, No. 98 McNally defeated Tyler (6-1, 6-3).
Earlier that day, the Hawkeyes topped Dayton, 4-2, handing the Flyers their fourth loss of the season.
Iowa claimed an early lead, clinching the doubles point with two wins. Allaf and Larsen defeated Carsten Fisher and Zach Berry (6-4). Tyler and Jake Jacoby helped garner the doubles point with a 6-1 victory over Steven Karl and Lorenzo Rollhouser.
The Hawkeyes dropped two singles matches before grabbing 3 more points and the victory.
Fisher edged Smietana in straight matches (7-5, 6-2) for the first Dayton team point. Berry seized the only other Flyer point, defeating Tyler in three sets.
Allaf, Larsen, and Davies sealed their matches in straight sets. Allaf topped Theo Jener (6-4, 6-4), followed by Larsen, who took down Karl (6-2, 6-0). Davies brought home the last Iowa point for the match, defeating Will Harper (6-2, 6-1).
Silverstein’s match against undefeated Jordan Benjamin was discontinued in the third set.
The Hawkeyes will be back in action on Friday to face Indiana at 6 p.m. in the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex.