Ballivian Upends Ranked Opponent But No. 37 Minnesota Posts 5-2 Win Over Bulldogs

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. - Junior Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) garnered a pivotal victory over a ranked opponent but it wasn't enough to lift the Drake men's tennis team past No. 37 Minnesota as the Golden Gophers registered a 5-2 triumph on Saturday (Feb. 20).

The Bulldogs displayed tenacity in each of their three doubles matches holding leads in all three but Minnesota persevered to rally to collect the doubles point with a trio of wins.

In singles, Ballivian made the biggest splash at the top singles slot overcoming dropping the first set to upend 37th-rated Sebastian Gallego in three sets, 4-6, 7-5, 12-10.

"It was a great victory by Mauricio over a ranked opponent as he displayed guts and fortitude to collect a quality win," Drake head coach Jimmy Borendame commented.

Moving down in the line-up with the return of sophomore Cesar Bracho (Luque, Paraguay), fellow sophomore and former Golden Gopher Jonathan Hadash (Lapid, Israel) turned in a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Michael Sicora at No. 6.

"Today we realized that we have the talent and ability to compete with nationally-ranked teams and we continued to show improvement in our game," Borendame said.

The Bulldogs return home for an in-state showdown versus No. 55 Iowa on Wednesday (Feb. 24) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center starting at 6:00 p.m.

NO. 37 MINNESOTA (3-3) DEF. DRAKE (2-3), 5-2

FEB. 20, 2010 • MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.

SINGLES:

No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. No. 37 Sebastian Gallego (MINN), 4-6, 7-5, 12-10

No. 2 No. 118 Tobias Wernet (MINN) def. James McKie (DU), 6-3, 7-6 (2)

No. 3 Rok Bonin (MINN) def. Cesar Bracho (DU), 6-1, 6-4

No. 4 Dino Bilankov (MINN) def. Guilherme Marsiglia (DU), 6-2, 6-2

No. 5 Phillip Arndt (MINN) def. Jean Erasmus (DU), 6-3, 6-3

No. 6 Michael Sicora (MINN) def. Jonathan Hadash (DU), 6-4, 6-3

DOUBLES:

No. 1 Arndt/Gallego (MINN) def. Ballivian/Bracho (DU), 8-6