Iowa Opens Big Ten Play

Feb. 23, 2009

IOWA CITY-

THIS WEEK — The No. 75 Iowa women’s tennis team (5-5) will host No. 52 Minnesota this weekend in Iowa City, opening Big Ten conference play. Competition will be held at 11 a.m. at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. Admission is free.

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 went 1-1 last weekend, losing a 5-2 match to No. 41 DePaul Friday and winning a 5-2 victory over Kansas Sunday. Against DePaul the sole doubles win came from Lynne Poggensee-Wei and Kelcie Klockenga (8-7) at the No. 2 spot. The Hawkeyes headed into singles competition down 1-0, but Sonja Molnar grabbed the first win 6-3, 6-0 over DePaul at the No. 1 singles position. The second Iowa win came from Alexis Dorr at the No. 3 position. After splitting the first two sets, the match was pushed to a tiebreaker decision, with Dorr coming up victorious 6-1, 4-6 (10-5).

Against Kansas, Lynne Poggensee-Wei and Kelcie Klockenga were once again victorious at the No. 2 doubles position 8-6, after coming from behind to tie the match up at 6-6, ultimately earning the win. No. 3 doubles duo of Alexis Dorr and Ally Majercik clinched the doubles competition win for the Hawkeyes with a 9-8 (7-2) win after taking the match into a tiebreaker. Up 1-0 over the Jayhawks heading into singles competition, Iowa kept the determination up winning four of the six matches and grabbing the meet win 5-2 to move their season record to 5-5.

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 62-41 overall record in five seasons at Iowa. He is 103-66 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).

UP NEXT — Iowa women’s tennis will travel to South Bend, IN to face Notre Dame March 6. Competition is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at the Eck Tennis Pavilion.