March 16, 2005

La Jolla, Calif. - The University of Denver men's tennis team was defeated by Iowa, 4-3, this afternoon at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. The loss puts the Pioneers at 6-6 on the season.

The Pioneers won three of six singles matches with Denver's wins coming at No. 1, 2 and 3 singles. Viktor Zetterholm (Stockholm, Sweden) defeated Chatiu Malempati, 7-5, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, Niklas Persson (Stockholm, Sweden) defeated Kyle Markham, 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and Jason Tan (Amsterdam, Netherlands)defeated J.P. Ritchie, 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.

After being even after the singles matches, the Hawkeyes got after it and swept the doubles by close margins to earn the doubles point and seal the win, 4-3.

"Despite getting swept in the doubles, I thought we played well," said head coach Geoff Young. "We fought hard and did well in singles and we knew they had good doubles teams, but just didn't come out with the energy needed."

Denver will return to action tomorrow, March 17 against Central Florida in La Jolla, Calif.

Singles
No. 1  Viktor Zetterholm (DU) def. Chaitu Malempati (Iowa), 7-5 6-2
No. 2 Niklas Persson (DU) def. Kyle Markham (Iowa), 6-3 6-0
No. 3 Jason Tan (DU) def. J.P. Ritchie (Iowa), 1-6 7-6 6-4
No. 4 Bart von Monsjou (Iowa) def. Steve Flaks (DU), 1-6 7-5 7-6
No. 5 Jonny Hoak (Iowa) def. Kalle Rosen (DU), 6-4 6-3
No. 6 Brett Taylor (Iowa) def. Ryan Slemons (DU) 6-4 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 Markham/Taylor (Iowa) def. No. 56 Zetterholm / Persson (DU) 9-8
No. 2  Malempati/ von Monsjou (Iowa) def. Rosen / Zetterholm (DU) 8-6
No. 3 Ritchie/Schaechterle (Iowa) def.  Rosen/Slemons (DU) 9-8