Iowa City, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s tennis beat Indiana, 5-2, Friday afternoon at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex (HTRC) in its home opener.
The Hawkeyes won the doubles point with victories on courts one and two. The first win came from Kareem Allaf and Nikita Snezhko, 6-2. The 17th-ranked duo of Will Davies and Oliver Okonkwo clinched the point with a 6-3 triumph. Davies and Okonkwo improved to 5-0 this season with the win today. Peter Allam and Joe Tyler’s match on court three went unfinished.
Tyler, Allaf, and Davies won their respective singles matches to clinch the match. The Hawkeyes started strong with a win from the 39th-ranked player in the nation. Allaf cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 straight sets win over No. 48 Bennett Crane on court one. Tyler overwhelmed his opponent, Carson Haskins, winning 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3. Davies again clinched it for the home team, winning the last three points in the second set to bounce Vikash Singh, 6-3, 7-5. The fourth-year junior was the last Hawkeye to clinch the win for the Hawkeyes at the HTRC (Cornell on March 8, 2020) before COVID-19 canceled the completion of the 2020 season.
Okonkwo and Jason Kerst split their matches after the match was decided. Okonkwo and Andrew Redding came down to a third-set tiebreaker. Kerst dropped the last match in a third-set 10-point tiebreak.
Iowa returns to action on Sunday, hosting Purdue at noon at the HTRC.
Iowa 5, Indiana 2
Feb. 19, 2021 | 1 p.m. | Iowa City, Iowa | HTRC
Singles
1. #39 Kareem Allaf (UI) def. #48 Bennett Crane (IND): 6-2, 6-3
2. Oliver Okonkwo (IU) def. Andrew Redding (IND): 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5)
3. Joe Tyler (UI) def. Carson Haskins (IND): 6-0, 6-1
4. Will Davies (UI) def. Vikash Singh (IND): 6-3, 7-5
5. Michael Andre (IND) def. Jason Kerst (UI): 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-6
6. Luka Vukovic (IU) def. Peter Alam (IND): 7-5, 6-4
Doubles
1. #17 Okonkwo/Davies (UI) def. Crane/Andre (IND): 6-3
2. Allaf/Snezhko (UI) def. Haskins/Tiraspolsky (IND): 6-2
3. Tyler/Alam (UI) vs. Piekarsky/Redding (IND): 5-4 unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,3,6,4,2,5)