Sept. 22, 2013
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Hawkeyes wrapped up play today at the Purdue Invite and ended the weekend on a high note. Andres Estenssoro won both of his matches today along with doubles partner Kristiyan Trukov of Marquette to capture the Flight B Consolation title, 8-5. Estenssoro finished the weekend with a 4-1 doubles record along with a 2-1 record in singles play.
“Andres winning the flight with the player from Marquette was a very odd situation, something you generally don’t see,” said head coach Steve Houghton. “He deserves a lot of credit for him to win the flight the way he did.”
“I didn’t meet my partner until 30 minutes before our first match,” said Estenssoro. “He was a nice guy and I figured it was going to just be fun to play doubles with someone new. We lost our first match simply because we didn’t know each other which is important in doubles. By the time we got to the finals it felt like I had known him for a long time.”
In the only other official action for the Hawkeyes today, the duo of Michael Swank and Joey White won their first match of the day to reach the Flight A Consolation final before being outlasted by Feilzer and John from DePaul, 9-8 (7-3).
“They (Swank and White) did very well to get where they got in their flight,” said Houghton. “They are a very experienced team and have played a lot together.”
“We have a comfort level with one another. We know the strengths and weaknesses of each other,” said Swank. “It developed late last year when we started playing together, and once practice started this year we were able to pick up right where we left off.”
Many of the other Hawkeyes played in unofficial matches to get playing experience against other competition, and Houghton was pleased with what he saw.
“We’re trying to transition our style of play this year,” said Houghton. “We won almost all of our singles matches today, and to do that playing the correct way was a nice way to finish off”.
Throughout the course of the weekend, Houghton was also pleased with two Hawkeyes making their first appearances for the team. Senior Brian Alden played his first matches for Iowa after sitting out last season after transferring from Florida State. Meanwhile, freshman Nils Hallestrand played in his first collegiate matches of his career this weekend.
“Brian hadn’t really competed in over a year because of his transfer situation, but competed really well,” said Houghton.
“Nils, as a freshman, did really well. He won some matches in doubles and singles in his first ever college action, which was nice,” said Houghton.
Overall, Houghton was pleased with the effort of his team this weekend.
“I think it was a typical first fall tournament event. There was good, bad, ups-and-downs to the weekend,” said Houghton. “Overall, the team was trying hard and had a good attitude all weekend and there was more good than bad.”
PURDUE FALL INVITATIONAL — Sundays’s results
Flight A Doubles Consolation
Swank/White (UI) def. Bishop/Moe (Xavier): 8-4
Feilzer/John (DePaul) def. Swank/White (UI): 9-8 (7-3)
Flight B Doubles Consolation
A. Estenssoro (UI)/Trukov (Marquette) def. Hawkins/Zhang (Univ. Chicago):9-8 (7-5)
A. Estenssoro (UI)/Trukov (Marquette) def. Romer/Raa (IPFW): 8-5