Cornell Edges Hawkeyes, 4-3

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s tennis team, ranked No. 42 nationally, was edged Friday evening by Cornell, 4-3, at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex. The Big Red snapped Iowa’s five-match win streak.
 
Freshmen Will Davies and Piotr Smietana cruised to a 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles to post the duo’s eighth straight win. Courts one and three went back-and-forth with the visitors winning 7-6 and 7-5, respectively, to take the doubles point. Entering tonight, Iowa had captured the doubles point in five consecutive matches and nine matches overall.
 
Iowa posted straight sets wins on courts five and six to open singles competition. Junior Jonas Larsen won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5 just before Davies won his fifth straight match, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 6.
 
Sophomore Kareem Allaf fell 7-6, 6-5 to give Cornell on court three to even the match. Iowa reclaimed the lead when freshman Joe Tyler battled back after dropping the second set to win the third set, 6-2.
 
Both Josh Silverstein and Piotr Smietana dropped hard-fought match on courts one (7-6, 6-4) and two (7-6, 2-6, 6-4), respectively, to close out the three-hour match.
  
NEXT MATCH:
The nationally-ranked Hawkeyes host No. 40 Oregon and Omaha Sunday at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. Admission is free to the public.
 
QUOTING HEAD COACH ROSS WILSON:
“Tonight was probably the best match we have played all year. Even though we lost, I thought 1-3 doubles and 1-6 singles competed very well. Unfortunately, we didn’t win. The difference in doubles was that we didn’t play well in the last couple minutes. If we can compete like this, we will have a lot of chances to win matches. I like the direction this team is going. In college tennis it comes down to a couple points and I hope we can make the big points on Sunday.”
 
Cornell 4, #42 Iowa 3
Mar. 2, 2018 | 5 p.m. (CT) | Iowa City, Iowa | HTRC
 
Singles 
1. David Volfson (CU) def. Josh Silverstein (UI): 7-6(6), 6-4
2. Alafia Aveni (CU) def. Piotr Smietana (UI): 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-4
3. Lev Kazakov (CU) def. Kareem Allaf (UI): 7-6(3), 6-4
4. Joe Tyler (UI): def. Daniel Grunberger (CU): 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
5. Jonas Larsen (UI) def. Pietro Rimondini (CU): 6-2, 6-0
6. Will Davies (UI) def. Evan Bynoe (CU): 6-0, 6-4
 
Doubles 
1. Hansen/Kazakov (CU) def. Allaf/Larsen (UI): 7-6(4)
2. Smietana/Davies (UI) def. Glasnovic/Ross (DU): 6-1
3. McAllister/Volfson (CU) def. Tyler/Jacoby (UI): 7-5
 
Match Notes:
#42 Iowa: 6-6
Cornell: 4-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (5,6,4,5,6,1)
 

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