Iowa Heads South For SEC Competiton

Feb. 9, 2009

IOWA CITY-

THIS WEEK — The No. 62 Iowa women’s tennis team (4-2) will travel to Tuscaloosa, AL to face the Alabama Crimson Tide Saturday at noon in the Hank Crisp Indoor Facility. The Hawkeyes will then travel to Oxford, MS to meet the Mississippi Rebels at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center at 10 a.m on Sunday.

HAWKEYE COMPETITORS — Competing for the Hawkeyes this week will be Jennifer Barnes, Merel Beelen, Alexis Dorr, Kelcie Klockenga, Sonja Molnar, Lynn Poggensee-Wei, Ally Majercik and Jessica Young.

LAST COMPETITION — Iowa traveled to Milwaukee, WI Feb. 7 to face No. 43 Louisville. The No. 62 Hawkeyes battled and came out victorious 4-3 over their first ranked opponent of the season. After a big win by No. 1 doubles Molnar and Dorr 8-6, Iowa carried momentum into the singles competition, going 4-2 to pull off the team win. Poggensee-Wei and Dorr played smart and aggressively to grab comeback wins in their matches. Iowa then faced host Marquette Feb. 8 winning 5-2 after more comeback wins. This time Iowa grabbed the doubles point after Molnar and Dorr won after a tie-breaker 9-8 (6). The Hawkeyes once again went 4-2 in doubles, with Klockenga clinching the win for Iowa after coming back to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.

THIS SEASON — Iowa opened its 2009 spring season by hosting Western Illinois and Northern Iowa. The Hawkeyes dominated their opponents, going 7-0 each day to bring their dual meet record to 2-0. Head Coach Daryl Greenan collected his 100th career victory in the win over Northern Iowa. Iowa then dropped matches to Virginia Tech and Princeton at the ITA Qualifiers in Waco, TX (7-0) and (5-2) respectively. Iowa hit the courts hard against No. 43 Louisville, winning 4-3 after coming from behind to win two much needed matches. The Hawkeyes then continued the weekend by defeating host Marquette (5-2) on Feb. 8.

HEAD COACH Daryl Greenan — Coach Daryl Greenan is in his fifth season as head coach of the Hawkeyes. Greenan led the Hawkeyes to a 13-10 overall record in 2008, going 3-7 in Big Ten competition tying for a sixth place league finish. The 2006 Big Ten Coach of the Year, Greenan has a 61-38 overall record in five seasons at Iowa. He is 102-63 in eight seasons as a collegiate head coach. Mira Radu is the assistant coach and is in her first season with the Hawkeyes. She volunteered as an assistant coach at the University of Mississippi (2003-2006) following her membership on the tennis team (1999-2003).

QUOTING COACH GREENAN — “We will have some very strong competition from SEC opponents Alabama and Mississippi this weekend. Hopefully we can carry the confidence and momentum from last weekend and pick up a couple more big wins.”

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