Jan. 28, 2012
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. –The University of Iowa men’s tennis team fell short against William & Mary in the first match of the Tribe Kickoff Tournament Saturday at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center. The Hawkeyes fell 4-3 to the Tribe in Iowa’s season opener.
The Hawkeyes (0-1 overall) and Tribe (3-2) split victories with four matches a piece, but all off William & Mary’s victories came in singles play to provide the difference.
Iowa swept the Tribe in doubles to claim the first point. Sophomore Michael Swank and junior Garret Dunn defeated the Tribe’s Anton Andersson and Adrian Vodislav 8-5. Iowa’s sophomore Jonas Dierckx and freshman Matt Hagan put Iowa up 1-0 with an 8-2 advantage over Ben Hoogland and John Banks. With Iowa claiming the point, the remaining match was abandoned despite seniors Will Vasos and Tom Mroziewicz being one game away from claiming the match.
Playing No. 1 singles for the first time in his career, Vasos earned a three-set victory against Andersson (6-3, 1-6, 7-5). Andersson was coming off a No. 1 singles victory against Northwestern’s Sidarth Balaji.
Dierckx also posted a three-set singles victory for the Hawkeyes in the No. 2 singles spot. Dierckx defeated Vodislav 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Dierckx played No. 5 and No. 6 singles from Iowa in the second half of last year’s Big Ten schedule, but an impressive fall season propelled Dierckx to the No. 2 singles position.
Iowa plays Dartmouth today at 3 p.m. in their second match of the tournament.
William & Mary 4, Iowa 3
Singles
No. 1 – Will Vasos (Iowa) def. Anton Andersson (W&M) – 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
No. 2 – Jonas Dierckx (Iowa) def. Adrian Vodislav (W&M) – 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
No. 3 – Ben Guthrie (W&M) def. Mitch Beckert (Iowa) – 6-2, 6-4
No. 4 – Ben Hoogland (W&M) def. Tom Mroziewicz (Iowa) – 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 – John Banks (W&M) def. Matt Hagan (Iowa) – 6-3, 6-7, 6-4
No. 6 – Robert Pietrucha (W&M) def. Garret Dunn (Iowa) – 6-2, 6-4
Finishing Order: 3, 1, 2, 4, 6, 5*
Doubles
No. 1 – Swank/Dunn (Iowa) def. Andersson/Vodislav (W&M) – 8-5
No. 2 – Mroziewicz/Vasos (Iowa) vs. Guthrie/Orre (W&M) – 7-6, abandoned
No. 3 – Dierckx/Hagan (Iowa) def. Hoogland/Banks (W&M) – 8-2 Finishing Order: 3, 1*