April 25, 2011
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THIS WEEK The University of Iowa men’s tennis team will begin postseason play with the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday in Madison, Wis. The tourney will go from Thursday to Sunday, with action lasting all day. The Big Ten Network will broadcast the tournament on tape delay Saturday, May 7th at 5 p.m. CT.
THE MATCH UP No. 66 Iowa (8-12, 2-8) earned a ten seed to draw Purdue (12-12, 3-7) in the first round. Action will begin 2:30 p.m. (CT) on Thursday. The Hawkeyes defeated the Boilermakers 4-3 earlier this season on the road. Iowa earned an opening round victory over Purdue in this tournament last year also. The winner will face second seeded Indiana Friday in the quarterfinals.
SCOUTING THE FIELD There are ten Big Ten teams with nationally rankings, including five within the top-27. Ohio State earned the No. 1 seed following a 10-0 conference slate. The Buckeyes are the defending tournament champions.
IN THE RANKINGS Iowa is ranked 66th by the ITA. The Hawkeyes have been ranked in 12 of the 14 rankings released by the ITA this year, and have also competed against 14 teams that are currently ranked. The Hawkeyes have upset two ranked foes this season.
LAST TIME OUT Iowa closed out the regular season with a home contest against No. 23 Minnesota (17-4, 8-2) on senior day last Sunday. Iowa fell short 5-2. Freshman Jonas Diercks earned his first singles Big Ten win, and Will Vasos earned a No. 2 singles win to go 2-0 on the weekend. Garret Dunn and Tom Mroziewicz earned a win in doubles, also going 2-0 on the weekend.
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 335-341 (.499), recording the most wins of any coach in Iowa men’s tennis history.
HOUGHTON ON PURDUE “We ended up with a 4-3 win last time against Purdue, so in that sense we have confidence. The match ups in both singles and doubles will be different this time, so it could be a toss-up match, but I feel good about how most our guys are playing.”