April 26, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) crowned champions in five individual flights (three singles and two doubles) on Saturday at the Conference Men’s Tennis Individual Flighted Tournament. The Conference also announced the 2008 IIAC All-Conference Men’s Tennis Team. The Most Valuable Player and Coach of the Year will be announced next week.

In Flight A singles, eighth-seeded Tom Jennings of Coe survived a hard-fought three-set match with Luther’s Tim Eisele to become the sixth different Kohawk to capture the Flight A singles title since joining the IIAC for the 1997-98 academic year. Jennings, who finished fourth a year ago and was a quarterfinalist in 2006, defeated teammate Sam Zerbib 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals. Eisele also had to defeat a teammate to reach the final, topping Harrison Whiteley 7-5, 7-6 (4). Zerbib won the third-place match by default over Whiteley.

In Flight B singles, top-seeded Claudio Giraldi of Dubuque defeated Jake Reitz of Luther 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals and Nick Rohner of Central 6-2, 6-0 in the Championship match to take the title. Rohner defeated Steve Holt of Luther 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6) in the semifinals. Holt won the third-place match by default over Reitz.

Flight C singles saw David Jacobsen of Dubuque defeat Luther’s Adam Berneking 6-1, 6-2 in the final. Jacobsen, who downed Ryan Walden of Cornell 6-1, 1-6, 1-0 (2) in the semifinals, moved up one step on the podium after finishing second a year ago. Berneking defeated Digger Kurt of Loras 7-5, 6-2 in the other semifinal. Walden defeated Kurt 10-8 for third place.

In Flight A doubles, Coe’s Tom Jennings/Scott Stegemann defeated Luther’s Jono Martin/Scott Martin in the Championship match (8-6). Coe’s Elliot Rausa/Sam Zerbib captured third-place by default over teammates Greg Janssen/Joey Lankelma. Jennings/Stegemann defeated Rausa/Zerbib (8-3) and Martin/Martin defeated Janssen/Lankelma (8-6) in the semifinals.

In Flight B doubles, Austin Stewart/Cory McCarthy of Dubuque topped Central’s Dan Bowser/Nick Rohner by an 8-4 score. Loras’ Drew Behan/Jared Levy topped Nick Schnicker/Jacob Veldhuizen of Central (8-2). In the semifinals, Stewart/McCarthy defeated Schnicker/Veldhuizen (9-7) and Bowser/Rohner defeated Behan/Levy (8-6).

Complete results from the two-day Individual Flighted Tournament can be found here.

All-Conference: The quarterfinalists in Flight A singles and the semifinalists in Flight A doubles are recognized as All-Conference. The 2008 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Tennis All-Conference Team is here.

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