California Here We Come

March 7, 2007

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THIS WEEK — The University of Iowa men’s tennis team (4-3), ranked No. 75, will travel to California this week for Spring Break competition. The team will play UC Santa Barbara Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in Santa Barbara. From there, the Hawkeyes will travel to San Diego to compete against UC San Diego Friday at 1 p.m. and Dartmouth Saturday at 11 a.m. All times listed are central.

SCOUTING UCSB — The University of California Santa Barbara is 2-8 in dual competition. The team has picked up key wins against UC Davis and South Florida. Sophomore Bijan Hejazi, 3-7 in singles play, was named the Big West Conference’s Player of the Week on February 28.

SCOUTING UCSD — The University of California San Diego, 6-1, is ranked 16th in the most recent Divison II poll. Freshman Eric Rubens, 5-2, is ranked No. 40 in singles. Rubens and freshman Blake Meister, 6-0, are ranked No. 17 in doubles.

SCOUTING DARTMOUTH — Dartmouth, 11-1, is led by seniors Steven McGaughey, a native of Des Moines, IA, and David Waslen. McGaughney is 8-0 in the No. 1 doubles spot and 9-0 in singles competition. Walsen is 7-2 in the No. 1 singles position.

THE SERIES — This will be Iowa’s first meeting with UCSB and UCSD. The Hawkeyes lead the series against Dartmouth, 8-4.

LAST TIME OUT — The Hawkeyes lost their third match in a row by the score of 4-3 last week when they were defeated by Drake. Iowa took the doubles point by winning the No. 1 and No. 2 matches. In singles competition, junior Bart van Monsjou posted his sixth win of the season in the No. 1 spot. Freshman Reinoud Haal made his dual competition debut as he secured a win in the No. 5 match. Freshman Patrick Dwyer suffered his first loss of the season in the No. 6 spot to fall to 6-1 on the year. Iowa’s match with Minnesota was postponed due to inclement weather. The new competition date will be April 11.

HEAD COACH Steve Houghton — Steve Houghton, the dean of Big Ten tennis coaches, is in his 26th season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. Houghton has a career record of 281-289 (.493). 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.

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