PEORIA, ILL. - Picking up its first true road victory of the season, the Drake men's tennis captured a key Missouri Valley Conference decision with a 5-2 win over Bradley on Saturday (April 17).

"Mauricio (Ballivian) and James (McKie) had a great comeback in doubles and played amazing in the tiebreaker to clinch a very important doubles point," Bulldog head coach Jimmy Borendame commented.  "We're looking forward to a facing a very talented Illinois State squad tomorrow."

The doubles point came down to the tiebreaker at No. 1 where junior Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and freshman James McKie (Edinburgh, Scotland) rallied to down Callen Fraychineaud and Brock Reiman, 9-8 (4) to claim the tally for Drake.

In singles, the Bulldogs garnered victories from McKie and freshman Jean Erasmus (Windhoek, Namibia) at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions before Ballivian captured the victory for Drake with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Milos Romic at No. 1.

The Bulldogs also received a victory courtesy of sophomore Jonathan Hadash (Lapid, Israel) at the No. 4 slot.

The Bulldogs close out their regular season with an 11:00 a.m. tilt at Illinois State on Sunday (April 18).

DRAKE (14-7, 3-1 MVC) DEF. BRADLEY (6-16, 0-4 MVC), 5-2

APRIL 17, 2010 - PEORIA, ILL.

SINGLES:

No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Milos Romic (BU), 6-4, 6-4

No. 2 James McKie (DU) def. Juan Cuadrado (BU), 7-5, 6-0

No. 3 Jean Erasmus (DU) def. Callen Fraychineaud (BU), 6-4, 6-4

No. 4 Jonathan Hadash (DU) def. Eric Nguyen (BU), 6-4, 6-1

No. 5 Brock Reiman (BU) def. Ryan Drake (DU), 6-0, 1-6, 6-3

No. 6 Richard Robertson (BU) def. Ryan King (DU), 7-6 (5), 6-3

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

DOUBLES:

No. 1 Ballivian/McKie (DU) def. Fraychineaud/Reiman (BU), 9-8 (4)

No. 2 Erasmus/Hadash (DU) def. Romic/Robertson (BU), 8-3

No. 3 Cuadrado/Nguyen (BU) def. Drake/King (DU), 8-4

Order of finish (3,2,1)