April 10, 2004
IOWA CITY, IA – The Iowa men’s tennis team fell one tiebreak shy of its first conference win Saturday afternoon in a 4-3 loss to Wisconsin at the Klotz Tennis Courts.
Iowa’s doubles woes continued as it lost all three matches for the fifth consecutive time. In the No. 2 match, freshmen Walter Valarezo and Jonny Hoak lost an 8-2 decision to Pete Amundson and Scott Green. In the No. 3 match, sophomore Aaron Schaechterle and senior Matis Jasicek fell to Ward Bortz and Mark Weinig, 8-5. Freshman Sebastian Delgado and sophomore Chaitu Malempati also lost 8-5 in their No. 1 match with Alexander Kasarov and David Hippee.
The Hawkeyes were able to gain some ground in singles competition. In the No. 2 match, Malempati recorded Iowa’s most convincing win of the day with a 6-3, 6-2 straight-set victory over Hippee to tie the score at 1-1. Wisconsin claimed the next point after Delgado fell to Kasarov in the No. 1 match, 6-0, 6-3. Iowa evened the score at 2-2 after Hoak claimed victory in the No. 4 match with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Bortz. He has now tied Delgado with a team-best two dual wins in conference play. Wisconsin once again pulled ahead after Schaechterle lost a 7-5, 6-4 battle to Weinig in the No. 5 match.
The dual rested on the No. 3 match between Valarezo and Green and the No. 6 match between Jasicek and Amundson. Valarezo dropped his first set, 6-3, and then rallied to win a 7-6(8) tiebreak in the second set. Jasicek also lost his first set, 6-3, and fought back with a 7-6(5) win in the second set. Valarezo went up 5-2 in the third set, but lost the next three games to make the score 5-5. He once again battled back and claimed the final set and the No. 3 match with a 7-6(2) tiebreak victory. Meet point rested on Jasicek’s match. After trading games throughout the entire set to even the score at 6-6, Jasicek fell in a tiebreak, 7-6(2).
“I think we improved a lot over the weekend, but it didn’t really show in the final results,” said Iowa Head Coach Steve Houghton. “We need to improve in doubles competition.”
The Hawkeyes (3-13, 0-7) will travel to Bloomington, IN, next Sunday for a dual against Indiana.
RESULTS
Wisconsin 4
Iowa 3
Singles
No. 1 Alexander Kasarov (W) def. Sebastian Delgado (I), 6-0, 6-3
No. 2 Chaitu Malempati (I) def. David Hippee (W), 6-3, 6-2
No. 3 Walter Valarezo (I) def. Scott Green (W), 3-6, 7-6(8), 7-5
No. 4 Jonny Hoak (I) def. Ward Bortz (W), 7-6(5), 6-3
No. 5 Mark Weinig (W) def. Aaron Schaechterle (I), 7-5, 6-4
No. 6 Pete Amundson (W) def. Matis Jasicek (I), 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(2)
Doubles
No. 1 Kasarov/Hippee (W) def. Delgado/Malempati (I), 8-5
No. 2 Amundson/Green (W) def. Valarezo/Hoak (I), 8-2
No. 3 Bortz/Weinig (W) def. Schaechterle/Jasicek (I), 8-5