DES MOINES, IOWA ? The hardest thing about guarantees in sports in backing them up and for 66th-rated Iowa it was unable to walk the talk as the Hawkeyes became the 33rd consecutive regular season victim to the Drake men's tennis team as the Bulldogs rallied to post a 5-2 victory on Wednesday (Feb. 27) at the Drake Tennis Center.
Drake came into the match inspired by comments made by the Hawkeyes in their student newspaper that Iowa was looking to revel in its attempt to snap the both nation's longest regular season winning streak and the Bulldogs' 41-match home-court winning streak.
The Blue and White had other ideas as Drake rallied from a 2-0 deficit to secure the victory and improve to 11-0 on the campaign, while the Hawkeyes dropped to 5-2 overall.
"Tonight was a huge victory for the program especially after dropping the doubles point,” Bulldog head coach Chase Hodges said. “A lot of teams would have gotten down and folded and our guys did an incredible job of fighting job and taking five of six in singles. Thirty-three straight victories overall and 42 consecutive at home is just amazing. Our guys showed a lot of character tonight and we have to give credit to the crowd support, which was outstanding. We really appreciated everyone who came out to support and they really got behind us and stayed until the end.”
The physical in-state rivals battled it out in doubles play as the point hinged on the outcome at the top slot. The Drake tandem of senior Dalibor Pavic (Adelaide, Australia) and junior Maor Zirkin (Kibutz Hazor, Israel) led throughout their tilt with J.P. Ritchie and Bart van Monsjou and twice held match point, up 8-7. The Iowa duo fought back to even the contest at eight before rolling in the tiebreaker, 7-0, to hand Pavic and Zirkin their first doubles loss of the dual campaign.
Christian Bierich pushed Iowa's margin to 2-0 at the third singles position, bettering junior Ricardo Lau (Tegucigalpa, Honduras), 6-2, 6-2.
Rallying to win the first set, junior Ivan Mendoza (Wellington, New Zealand) gave the Bulldogs their first point with a 7-5, 6-1 decision at No. 6 against Gergory Holm.
Zirkin squared the contest at two following his 6-2, 7-5 upset of 93rd-ranked van Monsjou at the top singles hole.
Stepping forward as a captain is supposed to do, Pavic rose up to win a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory at the second slot over Ritchie to give Drake a 3-2 advantage.
The match came down to the No. 4 singles court where it took five matches points before freshman Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) sealed the deal on a 7-6 (5), 6-3 triumph against Reinoud Haal to send the Bulldogs home a winner.
“We were very pumped coming into the match tonight and when we hit the court we did so with the confidence that we wanted to prove to the doubters that we play to win,” Ballivian said.
Sophomore Bokang Setshogo (Gaborone,Botswana) capped the victory total for Drake as he fought back to secure a 6-7 (6), 6-3, 10-7 win at No. 5 over Tommy McGeorge.
“I was extremely impressed with Mauricio (Ballivian) and Ivan (Mendoza),” Hodges commented. “We always expect Dado (Pavic) and Maor (Zirkin) to pull through but the guys did an incredible job of taking care of business. They stayed focused and we are taking everyone's best shot and it is a true testament to the character of this team how solid we've been on the court.”
The Bulldogs return to action on March 9 as Drake closes out a five-match homestand versus Gustavus Adolphus at 2:00 p.m.
No. 52 Drake def. No. 66 Iowa, 5-2
Drake Tennis Center ? Feb. 27, 2008
Records: Drake (11-0), Iowa (5-2)
Singles:
No. 1 Maor Zirkin (DU) def. No. 93 Bart van Monsjou (IOWA), 6-2, 7-5
No. 2 No. 47 Dalibor Pavic (DU) def. J.P. Ritchie (IOWA), 6-1, 2-6, 6-3
No. 3 Christian Bierich (IOWA) def. Ricardo Lau (DU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 4 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Reinoud Haal (IOWA), 7-6 (5), 6-3
No. 5 Bokang Setshogo (DU) def. Tommy McGeorge (IOWA), 6-7 (6), 6-3, 10-7
No. 6 Ivan Mendoza (DU) def. Gregory Holm (IOWA), 7-5, 6-1
Doubles:
No. 1 Ritchie/van Monsjou (IOWA) def. Pavic/Zirkin (DU), 9-8 (0)
No. 2 Lau/Setshogo (DU) def. Haal/Holm (IOWA), 8-3
No. 3 Bierich/Austin Kauss (IOWA) def. Mendoza/Ballivian (DU), 8-2
