Oct. 14, 2010
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THIS WEEK —The University of Iowa men’s tennis team will travel to Evanston, IL, for the Wildcat Fall Invitational. The Hawkeyes will join three other Big Ten squads and for the three-day tournament at the Combe Indoor Tennis Center.
HAWKEYE COMPETITORS —Marc Bruche, Nikita Zotov, Jonas Dierckx, Jeroen Gortworst will compete for Iowa this week.
VETERANS START OFF HOT —Junior Marc Bruche won his first three singles matches for Iowa at the Purdue Invite, making it all the way to the semifinals in Flight A. Senior Austen Kauss had a succesful tournament as well, winning three matches in a row to reach the Flight A consolation finals match. Bruche also picked up a singles win at the D’Novo ITA All-American Tournament.
GOING STRONG —The Hawkeyes finished 13-10 overall and 4-6 in Big Ten Conference play in 2010, marking the third consecutive year Iowa has finished with at least 12 victories. Iowa was ranked 60th nationally in the final ITA Division I poll and earned a No. 48 ranking at one point in the season. As a team, Iowa defeated three ranked opponents. Iowa knocked off Purdue in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament before falling to second-seeded Illinois. Back from last year’s starting arsenal will be junior Marc Bruche (11-11) senior Austen Kauss (13-6), junior Tom Mroziewicz (2-2), junior Will Vasos (15-9) and senior Nikita Zotov (5-19).
LAST YEAR AT NU —Iowa opened their fall season at Northwestern last season, as Mitch Beckert and Patrick Dwyer picked up victories on the championship side of their brackets for the Hawkeyes.
HEAD COACH Steve Houghton —Steve Houghton, the dean of Big Ten tennis coaches, is in his 30th year as head coach of the Hawkeyes. He has compiled a career record of 323-328 (.496), recording the most wins of any coach in Iowa men’s tennis history. Houghton recorded his 300th win at Indiana State Feb. 6, 2009. 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), second best in Iowa history.
HOUGHTON–“This is a really good tournament, and a good chance to get some stiff competition from Big Ten teams. Most teams will be bringing their top guys, so we can expect a tough challenge.”