Iowa tennis teams success bodes well for next year
Both Hawkeye tennis teams managed to improve this season despite young talent.
Iowa’s Elise Van Heuvelen Treadwell celebrates a point during a women’s tennis match between Iowa and Rutgers at the HTRC on Friday, April 5, 2019. The Hawkeyes defeated the Scarlet Knights, 6-1.
May 1, 2019
Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams concluded their seasons on high notes with some solid individual achievements.
The No. 42 men’s team completed its season with a program-best 14 home victories.
Additionally — with the help of newcomer Oliver Okonkwo — Iowa finished the season with a program record three wins over top-30 opponents in the Big Ten: No. 18 Minnesota, No. 19 Michigan, and No. 30 Penn State.
Okonkwo and sophomore Will Davies each finished the season with 27 regular-season wins, which equaled the third-most total in a single season in program history.
Iowa finished the spring season 18-10 overall, 6-5 in Big Ten play.
The Hawkeyes will return big-time starters Kareem Allaf, Okonkwo, and Davies. Allaf is the only Iowa player to be named to the All-Big Ten second team. However, the Hawkeyes will lose senior Jonas Larsen.
Iowa’s wins over No. 19 Michigan and Illinois State mark the 59th team victory that Jonas Larsen had been a part of in his four-year career, which ties for fifth most in program history (1986). Furthermore, during his career, he has captured 62 doubles wins, which puts him at No. 7 all-time in school history.
RELATED: Iowa tennis hopes alive in Big Ten Tournament
Even with these great efforts, the Hawkeyes could not finish the season on a win. Iowa lost in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Championships against Penn State, and as a result they were unable to get a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Next season, Iowa will try to duplicate its doubles success. The Hawkeyes finished 17-2 when they secured the doubles point this season.
The women’s team concluded its season with major momentum heading into next season. Iowa finished the season with 13 wins (13-12), the second most under head coach Sasha Schmid and the third most since the 2009-10 season.
Even more, the Hawkeyes snagged a bid to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2016. Iowa went on to win in the first-round against Indiana before falling in the quarterfinals to Wisconsin. It was the team’s first Big Ten Tournament win since 2014.
The season proved that the Iowa women’s tennis team is on the rise. With the newcomers of sophomore transfer Ashleigh Jacobs and freshmen Cloe Ruette, Samantha Mannix, Sophie Clark, and Michelle Bacalla, Iowa outdid last season’s record, even though last year’s team had plenty more upperclassmen.
The team’s lone junior, Elise van Heuvelen Treadwell, led the team with 15 singles victories, followed by underclassmen Jacobs, who had 12, and Clark, who grabbed 11. In doubles, Mannix led the squad with 14 victories, and Ruette finished second with 13.
Iowa’s best victories came on March 29 and March 31 against Purdue and Indiana.
