The Drake men look to bounce back from their first Missouri Valley loss on Wednesday night when they host Indiana State. The Bulldogs are coming off a 22-point loss at Belmont and host a Sycamore team that is 4-0 in the Valley.
That’s Drake coach Darian DeVries who says the Bulldogs will need a big effort defensively.
Drake is 3-1 in the Valley and 12-3 overall.
The winter storm changed the travel plans for the third ranked Iowa women’s basketball team. The Hawkeyes play at Purdue Wednesday night and coach Lisa Bluder says they traveled to West Lafayette on Monday.
The Hawkeyes are 15-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten. Purdue is 2-1 in the conference and 9-5 overall. They are 8-0 at home.
Bluder says it will be a difficult road test for the Hawkeyes.
THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa women’s tennis team will kick off its spring season this weekend in Fort Myers, Florida. The Hawkeyes will face Florida Atlantic in the season opener on Friday at noon (CT) before squaring off against Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday at 9 a.m.
FOLLOW LIVE
Fans can follow the duals via live scoring at ioncourt.com. Fans can also follow the action live via the Iowa women’s X account (@iowa_tennis).
THE LINEUP
The Hawkeyes will be introducing three new student-athletes this season — two freshmen and one transfer. Six of the eight players on this year’s roster are international, ranging from Canada to Germany.
A REVIEW
• Iowa posted seven victories against ranked opponents during the 2022-23 season, including a 4-1 victory over No. 31 Illinois in Champaign.
• Iowa finished the regular season tied for fifth place in the Big Ten standings, marking the second time in three seasons that the program has placed fifth or better.
HAYASHIDA AT ITAS
• Sophomore Daianne Hayashida, who is ranked 109th in the ITA singles rankings, had a strong showing at the ITA Midwest Regionals this fall, advancing her way to the quarterfinals.
• She was the first Hawkeye to advance to the regional quarterfinals since Elise van Heuvelen in 2019. Hayashida defeated her first two opponents in straight sets before falling to Oklahoma’s Dana Guzman.
HAWKEYEYES RETURNING
• Iowa welcomes back its No. 1 singles player Marisa Schmidt, who went 5-5 in 10 matches at the top singles spot a season ago. Schmidt also tied for the team lead with three doubles wins at the No. 1 doubles position.
• Sophomore Daianne Hayashida went 10-3 in dual action in 2023, going 4-0 at No. 3 singles and 5-2 at No. 4 singles.
MEHRA’S SENIOR SEASON
Senior Vipasha Mehra begins her senior season with 31 career singles victories and 36 career wins in doubles. The Calgary, Canada, native is the lone senior and one of three upperclassmen on the Hawkeyes’ 2024 roster.
NIKITA THE HAWKEYE
Sophomore Nikita Vishwase, a transfer from LSU, will make her Hawkeye debut when she takes the court this spring. The Arizona native didn’t compete in the fall because of injury. In Baton Rouge, Vishwase was an ITA Southern Regional doubles champion and she posted 16 wins in singles and 22 wins in doubles. She was ranked as high as No. 7 nationally in the ITA doubles rankings in November of 2022.
SCOUTING FLORIDA ATLANTIC
• The Owls posted an 8-14 overall record and went 0-2 in conference action during the 2023 season.
• FAU’s doubles team of Victoria Gomez O’Hayon and Mille Mae Matthews advanced to the 2023 ITA Southeast Regional semifinals.
• Freshman Panna Bartha advanced to the 2023 ITF Tournament semifinals in the singles draw.
• Friday’s meeting will be the first between Iowa and FAU.
SCOUTING FLORIDA GULF COAST
• The Eagles posted a 16-7 overall record and went 6-2 in the Atlantic Sun Conference. FGCU went 11-2 on its home courts.
• FGCU hosted the Bonita Bay Classic during the fall, posting two wins over Purdue and three over Notre Dame.
• Iowa is 1-0 all-time against FGCU, winning 5-2 in Fort Meyers during the 2019 season.
UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will return to action on Jan. 20, traveling to South Bend, Indiana, to face Notre Dame beginning at 10 a.m.
IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa women’s wrestler, Sterling Dias has been named the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Region Wrestler of the Month, as announced Tuesday by the organization.
In the month of December, Dias was undefeated with nine wins. She went 3-0 at the Las Vegas Desert Duals where she picked up one ranked win and two wins via pin. At the second-annual Soldier Salute Dias took first-place at her weight, securing three technical falls and two pins on her way to the title. Dias is currently ranked second in the 101-weight class and holds an 18-1 record on the season.
The Las Vegas, Nevada native also helped the Hawkeyes to a NWCA National Duals title this past weekend, securing two top-ten wins.
The Hawkeyes are set to host their second dual in Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, January 21st. Iowa will face Life University and Missouri Valley College. The dual will begin at 2 p.m. CT and will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).
Full meet notes for this weekend’s Hawkeye Invitational. The meet begins at noon on Friday with the weight throw and shot put at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex (HTRC). Competition resumes on Saturday at the Hawkeye Indoor Track Facility with field events beginning at 11 a.m. (CT) and running events starting at 12:15 p.m. Iowa welcomes Ball State, Bradley, Central Methodist, Indian Hills, Iowa Central, Iowa State, Lindenwood, Northern Illinois, South Dakota and UNI.
FOLLOW ALONG: Saturday’s action will be streamed on BTN+ (subscription required). Results for the entire meet can be found at the live stats link on the track and field schedule page at hawkeyesports.com. Updates are posted on the team’s official ‘X’ account (iowaXC_TF).
IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa student-athletes Sterling Dias (women’s wrestling) and Real Woods (men’s wrestling) were named December’s Student-Athletes of the Month, the Iowa Student-Athlete Advisory Committee announced.
Dias, a sophomore from Las Vegas, is ranked No. 2 in the nation in the 101-pound weight class. She knocked off two ranked opponents on her way to a 9-0 record in December. Dias recorded seven bonus-point victories, including four pins and three technical falls. She went 3-0 at the Las Vegas Desert Duals before going 6-0 and claiming the 101-pound title at the Soldier Salute. Overall, Dias is 18-1 on the season.
Woods, a redshirt senior from Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the top-ranked wrestler at 141 pounds. Woods registered six wins in December (three technical falls and three decisions), outscoring his opponents 70-10. He claimed wins over the No. 5, 11 and 18 ranked wrestlers and was the 141-pound champion at the Soldier Salute.
(Radio Iowa) – A panel of lawmakers who oversee state agency regulations has conducted its initial review of how the Iowa Board of Medicine intends to enforce Iowa’s six-week abortion ban. The law, passed in July, has not gone into effect due to a court challenge, but the board has drafted guidelines for when doctors may perform an abortion in cases of rape, incest, fetal abnormality or to save the life of the mother. Representative Rick Olson, a Democrat from Des Moines who’s a member of the panel, says the exception in cases of rape requires it to be prosecutable –and that word isn’t defined. “I practiced law for a long time and I do some criminal defense work,” Olson said. “What cases aren’t capable of being prosecuted? I would think all cases are capable of being prosecuted.”
Senator Nate Boulton, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the proposed rules do not use the same kind of legal terminology used in other types of medical cases, for example in workers compensation and malpractice claims. “When we’re looking at the standard for whether a fetal abnormality meets the exception and the judgment of the physician, in most areas of law here in Iowa and elsewhere we talk about whether something is in a reasonable degree of medical certainty,” Boulton says. “That’s not a standard that appears here. We see words like ‘consistent with standard practice’ and ‘reasonable medical judgment.'”
Republicans on the legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee did not comment. While there was an opportunity for members of the public to comment during the meeting, no one stepped forward to speak. The Board of Medicine is scheduled to meet Friday to review objections to the rules that were aired during a public hearing held last week.
PRISCILLA JENSEN, 88, of Greenfield, died Tuesday, January 9, 2024, at the Creighton University/Bergan Mercy Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Celebration of Life services for PRISCILLA JENSEN will be held 10-a.m. Monday, January 15th, at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Greenfield. Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield has the arrangements.
Visitation at Immanuel Lutheran Church is on Sunday, Jan. 14th, from 1-until 5-p.m., with the family greeting friends from 3-until 5-p.m.
Cookies and Coffee will be served immediately following the Celebration of Life service at the church.
A private family burial will take place in the Greenfield Cemetery.
Memorials in her name may be directed to the Greenfield Volunteer Fire Department.
PRISCILLA JENSEN is survived by:
Her husband – Arnold Jensen.
Her daughter – Cindy (Roger) Anderson.
Her sons – Kenny (Pam) Jensen, and Randy (Lori) Jensen.
Her brother – Gerald Sticken.
Her sister – Phyllis (Max) Feick.
8 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren; her brother-in-law, and other relatives.
Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.
(Radio Iowa) – Republican presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy say it’s concerning that America’s top military official was hospitalized, but neither the White House nor congress were notified. “The idea that the secretary of defense is in intensive care and the president doesn’t know about it and the administration doesn’t know about,” Haley said during an interview on KSCJ. “You are putting every man and woman in the military at risk.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is 70, had an elective surgical procedure in late December, but after experiencing severe pain, he was hospitalized New Year’s Day. The president and other top foreign policy officials learned about it three days later. Haley said the deputy defense secretary who was notified she was on call was on vacation “and it’s everything that’s wrong with this administration.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley campaigning in Iowa in 2023. (RI file photo)
Ramaswamy said secrecy is “the new norm” in government. “I’m sorry to say that this is actually not just a Democrat issue, but a Republican issue as well,” Ramaswamy said during an interview on KSCJ. Ramaswamy made four campaign stops yesterday and posted a message on social media that his campaign vehicle got stuck in a ditch on the way back to Des Moines, but an Iowan had helped move it back on the roadway. Haley cancelled an appearance in Sioux City due to the weather.
(Radio Iowa) – Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann says the Republican Party’s Caucuses next Monday will start at 7 p.m. — whatever weather Iowa is experiencing at that time. “It’s going to go on, no matter what,” Kaufmann said. “…(I’m) putting the faith in people’s passion to get there.” There are more than 16-hundred precincts in Iowa and each is hosting a Caucus. The Republican Party has reserved countless meeting sites around the state for next Monday night and it would be a scramble to rebook or final alternative sites for a different night. “Hundreds and hundreds of hours just to get to this place,” Kaufmann says.
The forecast for next Monday night indicates temperatures will be below zero. Kaufmann says subzero temperatures aren’t likely to dampen turnout as much as an ice storm would. “I don’t think cold keeps people away — and I’m talking about a major, major ice storm that would almost load up transportation workers and it sounds like right now it’s going to be fine — so tentatively fine,” Kaufmann says. “I think it’s kind of cool that some of the national reporters like from Florida get a little below zero weather. I think it builds character.” The Iowa Republican Party’s Caucuses in 2016 set a turn-out record, when about 186-thousand Iowans participated.
Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa, speaks with reporters in Des Moines after a party fundraiser on Jan. 8, 2024. (RI photo)
Kaufmann says he’ll get a sense at Iowa G-O-P headquarters next Monday — during the day — whether that record will be broken. “If we start getting a bunch of calls of ‘I’ve never Caucuses before’ and ‘How do I go about doing this?’ ‘Where do I go?’ And just nerves: ‘Am I going to fit in?’ The amount of people who call who are Democrats or independents asking…how to re-register as Republicans — those kind of calls, just the volume (of them),” Kaufmann says. “In 2016, we couldn’t even handle the volume starting at nine in the morning.” Kaufmann says he expects turn-out for the 2024 Iowa Caucuses to be “robust,” if not a record due to the precinct-level organizing he’s seeing from two leading campaigns. — which he’s declining to name.
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
RSS