Dierckx Back to Winning Ways

April 4, 2012

IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa men’s tennis team fell to No. 68 Nebraska, 6-1, on Wednesday afternoon on the Klotz Outdoor Tennis Courts. It was the Cornhuskers’ (9-9, 2-3) first time meeting Iowa (1-15, 0-5) as a Big Ten team.

“I thought we played much better today,” said head coach Steve Houghton. “Our key guys are starting to play well, so we have hope for future matches.”

The Hawkeyes gave a spirited effort in all three doubles matches, but the Cornhuskers would take a 1-0 advantage after winning two-of-three doubles matches.

The No. 19th-ranked doubles tandem of Christopher Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim railed to knock off junior Garret Dunn and sophomore Michael Swank in the top doubles position, 8-5. Dunn and Swank jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but couldn’t hold on.

Iowa’s senior Will Vasos and freshman Matt Hagan would even things up with a No. 2 singles win against Robert Schulze and Andre Stenger. Vasos and Hagan went on a 5-2 run after trailing by one game early on to earn an 8-5 victory.

Nebraska’s Stefan Gollner and Eric Sock won the No. 3 doubles match against senior Tom Mroziewicz and sophomore Jonas Dierckx to take a 1-0 lead. The Iowa tandem won consecutive games to tie the match at 6-6, but the Cornhuskers would win the final two, winning the match, 8-6.

The Cornhuskers won the first three singles matches to secure the team victory.

Dierckx turned his No. 4 singles match around to provide Iowa with its lone singles win. Dierckx dropped the first set 6-1 against Andre Stenger, but the Lommel, Belgium native would get hot at the right time, winning the final two sets. Dierckx won each of the last two sets by 6-2 margins.

Vasos and Dunn each won the first set of their singles matches, but both would fall short in super tiebreakers. Vasos defeated No. 95 Benedikt Lindheim 7-6 in the first set of their No. 2 singles match, but Lindheim won the second, 6-4. Because Nebraska already secured the team victory, the match went to a super tiebreaker rather than a third set, as Lindheim would win the tiebreaker 10-5. Dunn topped Robert Schulze 6-4 in their No. 3 singles match, but Schulze would win the second set 7-6, and win the super tie-breaker 10-7.

Iowa will compete again on Friday, hosting No. 23 Indiana at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex. The match will begin at 2 p.m. (CT).

No. 68 Nebraska 6, Iowa 1

Singles

No. 1 – Christopher Aumueller (UN) def. Matt Hagan (IOWA) 6-0, 6-3

No. 2 – Benedikt Lindheim (UN) def. Will Vasos (IOWA) 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-2)

No. 3 – Robert Schulze (UN) def. Garret Dunn (IOWA) 4-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8)

No. 4 -Jonas Dierckx (IOWA) def. Andre Stenger (UN) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2

No. 5 – Stefan Gollner (UN) def. Tom Mroziewicz (IOWA) 6-2, 6-1

No. 6 – Tom Blackwell (UN) def. Joey White (IOWA) 6-2, 6-4

Order of finish: 5, 1, 6, 4, 2, 3

Doubles

No. 1 – Aumueller/Lindheim (UN) def. Dunn/Michael Swank (IOWA) 8-5

No. 2 – Hagan/Vasos (IOWA) def. Schulze/Stenger (UN) 8-5

No. 3 – Gollner/Eric Sock (UN) def. Mroziewicz/Dierckx (IOWA) 8-6

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3