Drake Vanquishes UMKC In Men's Tennis Action, 7-0

DES MOINES, IOWA - On the strength of a 7-0 victory over UMKC on Wednesday (March 10) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center, the Drake men's tennis team registered its third straight victory and sixth triumph in its last seven affairs.

"We stepped up and beat a good team today, our singles play was impressive," Bulldog head coach Jimmy Borendame commented. "UMKC was a tough team and a good win for us. Now, we need to keep working the doubles and get ready for the outdoor season."

Drake garnered wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 doubles positions to assume a lead it didn't relinquish against a Kangaroo squad that qualified for the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

Freshman James McKie (Edinburgh, Scotland) stretched the advantage to 2-0 in singles following his 6-1, 6-3 victory over Bret Berryman at No. 2.

Reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, freshman Jean Erasmus (Windhoek, Namibia) added a 6-4, 6-1 decision against Abdul Alawadhi at No. 6 to provide the Bulldogs a 3-0 cushion.

Sealing the win for Drake at No. 5 was sophomore Cesar Bracho (Luque, Paraguay), who bettered David Heckler, 6-2, 6-0.

The Bulldogs also received wins at the No. 1, 3 and 4 positions courtesy of junior Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), senior Guilherme Marsiglia (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and sophomore Jonathan Hadash (Lapid, Israel).

Drake returns to action next Wednesday (March 17) with a 9:00 a.m. St. Patrick's Day showdown versus Samford in Wilmington, N.C.

DRAKE (8-5) DEF. UMKC (5-4), 7-0

MARCH 10, 2010 - DES MOINES, IOWA

ROGER KNAPP TENNIS CENTER

SINGLES:

No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Patrick Smith (UMKC), 6-4, 6-3

No. 2 James McKie (DU) def. Bret Berryman (UMKC), 6-1, 6-3

No. 3 Guilherme Marsiglia (DU) def. Serge Ristivojevic (UMKC), 6-3, 6-3

No. 4 Jonathan Hadash (DU) def. Gustavo Guerin (UMKC), 7-5, 6-2

No. 5 Cesar Bracho (DU) def. David Heckler (UMKC), 6-2, 6-0

No. 6 Jean Erasmus (DU) def. Abdul Alawadhi (UMKC), 6-4, 6-1

Order of finish (2,6,5,1,3,4)