Oct. 7, 2004
This Week: The Iowa men’s tennis team will travel to Louisville, KY, to compete in the sixth annual Louisville Fall Invitational. Competition will begin Friday and conclude Sunday. All matches will be played at the Badd-Rudd Tennis center on the University’s Belknap Campus. First round singles action will begin at 9:00 a.m. on Friday.
Tournament Information: The 17-team format includes a very strong field of competition for the Hawkeyes. The field is highlighted by last season’s Big Ten champion Illinois. Iowa and Illinois are going to be joined by: Ball State, Bradley, Chicago State, Dayton, DePaul, Eastern Kentucky, IUPUI, IU-Southeast, Kentucky, Louisville, Morehead State, Murray State, Southern Illinois, Southern Indiana, Tennessee-Martin, and Wright State.
Last Time Out: The University of Iowa men’s tennis squad looked solid in its opening tournament two weekends ago at the Nebraska Invitational. The Hawkeyes came through with 15 victories in 43 matches against a very difficult field. The field featured Big Ten foes Minnesota and Wisconsin as well as Drake, Denver and host school Nebraska. Sophomore Andrew Holm led Iowa with a 2-0 record in singles, while the duo of Kyle Markham and Brett Taylor went 3-2 in doubles.
Head Coach: Steve Houghton, the dean of Big Ten tennis coaches, is in his 24th season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. Houghton has a career record of 261-260 (.501). He became the winningest coach in Iowa tennis history in 1992 and is a member of the Iowa Tennis Hall of Fame. He has coached 15 players to 29 all-Big Ten selections including Tyler Cleveland, who became the first men’s player in Big Ten history to be named Big Ten Player of the Year twice. Four of Houghton’s athletes have also been selected Big Ten Sportsman of the Year.
Quoting Houghton: “We had a strong performance in our first outing and I look for our guys to continue to improve. We will be facing tough competition this weekend, but I think it will help our team prepare for our Big Ten schedule in the spring.”