April 26, 2007

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . Luther College won its Conference record 27th Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) men’s tennis title and its first since 1997 with a 5-2 win over six-time defending Conference Champion Coe College in the Championship match at the University of Iowa Recreation Building in Iowa City on Thursday.

Luther, the Tournament’s top seed, improved to 28-6 on the season with a semifinal win over Wartburg College (5-0) and the Championship win over Coe, the fifth time in six years the two teams have met in the final match. After dropping two of three doubles matches to Coe, the Norse received wins at #1, #2, #3 and #5 singles to clinch the win at 5-2. The title was secured by a Jono Martin ace in his 6-4, 6-3 win over Chad Evans at #2 singles. Second-seeded Coe fell to 11-13.

With the win, Luther earns the Iowa Conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament which begins May 4 at a site to be determined.

Central College defeated Wartburg in the third-place match (5-4) and Loras College defeated Simpson College in the fifth-place match (5-3). Central defeated #6 Simpson and Wartburg defeated #5 Loras in opening round matches, both by scores of 5-1. All seven matches went according to seed.

The complete match-by-match results from the men’s tennis Team Tournament are here.

The IIAC men’s tennis Championship continues Friday and Saturday (April 27-28) with the Individual Flighted Tournament beginning with singles matches at 8:30 a.m. at Coe College (Flight A) and Veterans Park (Flights B and C). Any schedule changes necessitated by weather will be posted on the Iowa Conference web site once it becomes available. Brackets for the three singles flights and two doubles flights are here.

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