All men’s tennis players on deck at the ITA Central Regionals
For the first time this fall season, head coach Ross Wilson is taking his entire men’s tennis team to Oklahoma.
Illinois’ Alex Brown walks during the 2018 Big Ten Men’s Tennis Conference Final between #1 seed Ohio State and #2 seed Illinois at the HTRC on Sunday, April 29, 2018.
October 18, 2018
The Hawkeye men’s tennis team will hit the road this weekend as it prepares for the second half of the fall season.
Iowa will head to Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the Central Regional, beginning today. Players will compete through Oct. 22 at the Michael Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.
The tournament marks the first time that the entire men’s tennis team will travel and compete.
“It’s really good to finally be competing as a full team,” Joe Tyler said. “It’s a really good atmosphere when everyone sort of gets behind you when you’re playing; it helps get you fired up.”
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The tournament is the fifth of the fall season for Hawkeye men’s tennis. It opened with the Milwaukee Classic, in which sophomore Will Davies made it all the way to the quarterfinals after upsetting No. 101 Alexandre Ribeiro. Members of the team then went to the All-American Championships in which Jonas Larsen and Kareem Allaf, ranked 35th nationally as a doubles pair, made it to the round of 64.
On Oct. 5, head coach Ross Wilson sent four Hawkeyes to compete in the Bobby Bayliss Invitational, including freshmen Oliver Okonwo and Nikita Snezhko. Then, last weekend, Wilson sent rookie Snezhko to compete solo in the Champaign Challenger.
Now, after taking interchangeable pieces to various tournaments, the Hawkeyes are ready to have the nine members of the squad for the first time all fall.
“This is a type of tournament you bring your whole team team to kind of see how you stack up against everybody in your region,” assistant coach Joey Manilla said.
Allaf has competed in two tournaments this season, playing in Milwaukee as well as being one of Iowa’s most consistent players at the All-American.
Larsen will try for some redemption this weekend after suffering early exits in both the Milwaukee Classic and the All-American.
“I’m really interested to see how Allaf and Larsen do in doubles,” Manilla said. “I want to see how they stack up against other players in the region.”
In singles, Davies has been the most productive player for the Hawkeyes this fall season. This season, Davies will try not to repeat the early exit in his freshman campaign at this tournament.
“Last year, I was obviously a bit nervous being a freshman,” he said. “But this year, I feel a lot more relaxed, so yeah, hopefully, I can play well and see where it takes me.”
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