DES MOINES, IOWA - After dropping the doubles point, the Drake men's tennis
team captured four singles matches to post a 5-2 Missouri Valley Conference
triumph on Sunday (April 11) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
The Salukis garnered the doubles point on the strength of
triumphs at the bottom two slots to take a 1-0 lead into singles action.
"After the doubles, we came out fighting as the guys
displayed a new intensity after the doubles point went the wrong way," Drake
head coach Jimmy Borendame commented. "We
proved we can still get the win after falling in doubles."
The Bulldogs bounced back earning wins from freshman James McKie (Edinburgh,
Scotland), freshman Jean Erasmus (Windhoek, Namibia) and sophomore Jonathan Hadash (Lapid, Israel) at the Nos. 2, 3
and 4 positions, respectively, to take a 3-1 lead.
The Salukis captured the No. 5 singles contest, before sophomore Ryan King
(Wildwood, Mo.) bested Pavlo Buryi at No. 6, 6-1, 6-4 to clinch the match for
the Bulldogs.
Junior Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) capped the
winning for Drake with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) decision over Mpilo Migogo at No. 1.
"In singles, Ryan (King) did a great job of being the
clincher after his opponent put a comeback, while Mauricio (Ballivian) fought
back to win in two sets," said Borendame.
"We still have room to improve in doubles and we will continue to work
on it more this week."
Drake returns to action on Saturday (April 17) with a 2:00
p.m. tilt at Bradley.
DRAKE
(13-7, 2-1 MVC) DEF. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (6-11, 1-3 MVC), 5-2
APRIL
11, 2010
- DES MOINES, IOWA
ROGER
KNAPP TENNIS CENTER
SINGLES:
No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Mpilo Migogo (SIU), 6-3, 7-6(3)
No. 2 James McKie (DU)
def. Falk DeBeenhouwer (SIU), 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 Jean Erasmus (DU)
def. Brandon Florez (SIU), 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 Jonathan Hadash
(DU) def. Chikara Kidera (SIU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Orphan Spahic
(SIU) def. Ryan Drake (DU), 6-1, 7-6 (5)
No. 6 Ryan King (DU)
def. Pavlo Buryi (SIU), 6-1, 6-4
Order of finish
(2,3,4,5,6,1)
DOUBLES:
No. 1 McKie/Ballivian
(DU) def. Florez/Kidara (SIU), 8-6
No. 2
DeBeenhouwer/Migogo (SIU) def. Hadash/Erasmus (DU), 8-5
No. 3 Spahic/Jordan
Synder (SIU) def. King/Drake (DU), 8-5
Order of finish (3,1,2)
