Men’s tennis goes on the road for tournament

With a new season underway, the Hawkeyes are looking to improve on the road as they head to Milwaukee.

Freshman Will Davies and Freshman Piotr Smietana take a moment to celebrate during men’s tennis, Iowa vs. Illinois on March 31, 2018 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.

Cody Smith, Sports Reporter
September 19, 2018

The Iowa men’s tennis team is set to compete in its first tournament of the fall season today, when it travels to Wisconsin to play in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic.

Sixty-four singles players and 32 doubles teams from all over the country will be featured at the tournament, including players from the Big Ten, SEC, ACC, and Big 12. The winner of the event will get a wild-card spot to advance to the Fall National Tournament in November.

Four Hawkeyes will represent Iowa this weekend: Will Davies, Piotr Smietana, Kareem Allaf, and Jonas Larsen.

“This tournament will be a good chance to see where our guys are at,” said head coach Ross Wilson. “Especially because they’ll play good competition from across the country.”

This season, the Hawkeyes set off with plenty of confidence. Last season, the team won the fourth most victories in school history, and they get back six players from that team, five of whom were starters. Leading the way for Iowa this season is the doubles tandem of Larsen and Allaf, which ranks 36th in the preseason rankings.

“We expect to play well this weekend,” Allaf said. “We’ve played all summer and prepared well, so we expect to do nothing but well and go far in this tournament.”

The fall season is nothing more than a preparation for the spring, but that doesn’t mean that Iowa is going to take it lightly. Last season, the Hawkeyes were dreadful on the road, falling to a mere 3-7 compared with 13-8 at home. Knowing that, Iowa has placed itself in eight different tournaments across various states to help better prepare for road matches in the spring.

“I think dating back to the past couple of seasons, we have been getting better each season on the road,” Larsen said. “So I think we will see continuous improvement and be a lot better on the road this season.”

Perhaps Larsen and Allaf can continue where they left off last season and gain some valuable experience in a tough road environment. Entering the tournament, Allaf and Larsen will come in having won nine of their last 11 double matches, dating back to last spring. Redshirt junior Allaf is also riding a nine-match singles winning streak dating to April.

Davies and Smientana weren’t too shabby, either, in their freshman campaigns. The two were able to knock off two ranked opponents last season while also enjoying a short doubles ranking.

Getting ready for their sophomore season, Davies and Smientana will be another Hawkeyes duo to watch closely. Last spring, the duo won 17 matches together, third all-time at Iowa.