MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. - After its stellar 2008 campaign, the Drake men's tennis team has gotten the best its opponents have to offer and Sunday (Feb. 22) was no exception as No. 60 Minnesota earned a 6-1 decision over the Bulldogs.
The Golden Gophers extended their win streak to six consecutive matches to move to 8-1 overall, while Drake suffered its second straight loss to fall to 2-6.
“Our play was much improved this afternoon from yesterday,” Bulldog head coach
Chase Hodges commented. “Ricardo (Lau) stepped up in a big way for us today, while Mauricio (Ballivian) and Ivan (Mendoza) had three set matches today that could have gone either way."
Minnesota swept all three doubles tilts before earning decisions in the first three singles contests to claim the victory.
Senior
Ricardo Lau (Tecugigalpa, Honduras) accounted for Drake's lone win of the afternoon registering a 6-3, 6-4 triumph over Julian Dehn at the No. 5 position.
The final two matches left on the court were decided in three sets with the Bulldog duo of senior
Ivan Mendoza (Wellington, New Zealand) and sophomore
Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) each coming up short in their respective contests.
The Bulldogs return to action on Wednesday (Feb. 25) with a 6:00 p.m. tilt at in-state rival Iowa.
NO. 60 MINNESOTA (8-1) DEF. NO. 53 DRAKE (2-6), 6-1
FEB. 22, 2009
BASELINE TENNIS CENTER ? MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
SINGLES:No. 1 Ishay Hadash (MINN) def.
Maor Zirkin (DU), 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 No. 123 Tobias Wernet (MINN) def.
Evgeny Silitski (DU), 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 Sebastian Gallego (MINN) def.
Mauricio Ballivian (DU), 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Phillip Arndt (MINN) def.
Guilherme Marsiglia (DU), 6-4, 6-1
No. 5
Ricardo Lau (DU) def. Julian Dehn (MINN), 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 Dino Bilankov (MINN) def.
Ivan Mendoza (DU), 7-5, 6-7 (4), 10-4
Order of finish (2,4,1,5,3,6)
DOUBLES:No. 1 Michael Sicora/Wernet (MINN) def. Marsiglia/Silitski (DU), 8-2
No. 2 Hadash/Arndt (MINN) def. Mendoza/Ballivian (DU), 8-6
No. 3 Gallego/Dehn (MINN) def. Lau/Zirkin (DU), 8-3
Order of finish (1,3,2)
