Sept. 12, 2005
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THIS WEEK — The Iowa men’s tennis team will travel to West Lafayette, IN, Saturday and Sunday to compete in the Purdue Invitational. The competition will begin at 9 am both days.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION — This will be a flighted tournament. Two rounds of singles and one round of doubles will be played Saturday. The tournament will conclude Sunday with one round of singles and two rounds of doubles. Iowa will be competing against Big Ten teams, as well as teams from other conferences.
SEASON PREVIEW — The men’s tennis team hopes to improve after finishing ninth in the Big Ten last year. The Hawkeyes were 10-12 overall and 2-9 in the league. Four returning seniors and four incoming freshmen will make this team a blend of experience and youth. Kyle Markham and Chaitu Malempati are currently injured, but are expected to be playing again by the end of the fall campaign. This will give the freshmen a chance to gain experience. All players are looking to gain experience and improvement.
HEAD COACH Steve Houghton — Steve Houghton, the dean of Big Ten tennis coaches, is in his 25th season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. Houghton has a career record of 270-270 (.500). His best season came in 1984 when Iowa won a school record 21 matches and two Hawkeyes earned all-Big Ten honors. Four of Houghton’s athletes have also been selected Big Ten Sportsman of the Year. He became the winningest coach in Iowa tennis history in 1992 and is a member of the Iowa Tennis Hall of Fame. While playing at Iowa, Houghton had a career winning percentage of .727 (40-15), the second best in Iowa History.
QUOTING HOUGHTON — “We have quite a few freshmen competing in the tournament this weekend. It will be good to see the young and inexperienced players have a chance to play and get into competition.”