Oct. 3, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
THIS WEEK — The Iowa men’s tennis team will travel to Madison, WI, to compete in the Wisconisn Invitational. Competition will begin Friday and conclude Sunday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION —The field of competing teams will feature key Big Ten teams Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minnesota finished 7th in the Big Ten last year and 53rd in the final ITA poll. Iowa beat a good Wisconsin team last spring, 4-3. Other teams competing will be Drake, Marquette and Northern Illinois. The invitational will be run in a flighted format.
LAST TIME OUT — The Hawkeye men’s tennis team opened its fall season at the Boilermaker Invitational on September 17. Iowa was able to win 13 out of 27 matches against tough competition from Butler, Purdue and Toledo. Christian Bierich, Jonny Hoak, Gregory Holm and Bart van Monsjou all had a team-best 2-1 record in tournament singles play. The team of Aaron Schaechterle and J.P. Ritchie led Iowa with a 2-1 mark in doubles play.
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 — “This will be another good test for us, particularly our young and inexperienced players. I expect to see improvement over the Purdue tournament. The team has already improved in practice and it should show at Wisconsin.”