Raiders comeback falls short at Iowa

Friday, February 14

Iowa City, IA

6 PM

Middle Tennessee

Iowa

2/14/2020 9:25:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

Hawkeyes snap three-match win streak

IOWA CITY, IA. – Middle Tennessee men's tennis comeback falls just short in the opening of the Iowa road trip, falling to Iowa, 4-2 at the HTRC Klotz Tennis Center.

Looking to earn the road win over Iowa, the Blue Raiders started strong in doubles with Raider pair, Tom Moonen and Chris Edge earning the first victory for Middle Tennessee.

The pair conquered the No. 2 duo of Iowa 6-2 to tie the doubles matches up at one a piece.

The doubles point decision came down to No. 20 Pavel Motl and Stijn Slump on Court 1 as they battled against Iowa's No. 10 ranked Will Davies and Oliver Okonkwo.

The Hawkeyes clinched the doubles point over the Blue Raider pair, 7-5 to secure the 1-0 lead heading into singles.

Middle Tennessee earned a confident start in singles, matching the score at 1-1 with Chris Edge defeating Joe Tyler (6-4, 6-2).

After a Hawkeye victory on court four, Sophomore Francisco Rocha dominated his matchup (6-2, 6-4) to put the score at 2-2.

Iowa took the lead after No. 53 Kareem Allaf clinched the win with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Tom Moonen.

With two tight final matches remaining, Stijn Slump and Pavel Motl fought hard to earn a comeback for the Raiders.

On Court 3, Slump forced the match into a third set after coming back to defeat Iowa's Oliver Okonkwo in the second set, 6-3. In the final set, Okonkwo came back strong to clinch the match for the Hawkeyes, 4-2.

The Blue Raiders will be back in action on Sunday as they travel to Des Moines, IA to take on Drake.

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