Hawkeyes Edge Out Ducks In Top 50 Clash

Sunday, March 4

Iowa City, IA

9:00 AM

University of Oregon

Iowa

03/04/18 | Men's Tennis

Match Results: Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Sunday morning's top 50 showdown lived up to the hype as the No. 40 Oregon men's tennis team found themselves locked in another close match, this time against No. 42 Iowa. After a back-and-forth battle, The Hawkeyes came out on top 4-2 at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Center.

How it Happened: The Ducks (9-4) and the Hawkeyes opened the match in a heated clash for the doubles point.

Junior Armando Soemarno and freshman Charles Roberts picked up the opening win, 6-4, at the No. 1 position, but Iowa's Will Davies and Piotr Smietana evened the score downing Thomas Laurent and Cormac Clissold, 7-5, at the No. 2 spot.

With the doubles point on the line, Simon Stevens and Ty Gentry found themselves in a back-and-forth struggle against Jake Jacoby and Joe Tyler, heading into a tiebreaker set. Both doubles teams traded points in the extra set until the Hawkeyes gained the edge, 7-6(8), to win the doubles point.

Iowa pushed their lead early in singles play, picking up wins at the No. 3 and No. 4 spot, to put UO's backs against the wall down 3-0.

The Ducks would not go down without a fight though, as Laurent got UO on the board winning 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot. Gentry followed suit shortly afterwards downing Iowa's Jonas Larsen, 6-4, 6-4, to make it 3-2.

With the comeback attempt on, Akihiro Tanaka and Riki Oshima attempted to keep the Ducks alive at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots, respectively.

As Tanaka prepared to head into a third set, Oshima looked to rally after dropping his opening set to send his match into a third as well. Oshima fought Davies every step of the way in the second set tied 5-5, but Davies got the upper hand winning the match, 6-3, 7-5, to give Iowa the victory.

Notable: Despite the loss, Gentry recorded his 11th straight singles win to improve to 16-2 on the year, and remain undefeated in dual play, 7-0.

Up Next: Oregon opens conference play this Friday, Mar. 9, at 5 p.m. PT hosting UCLA.