WICHITA, KAN. - In what may be a prelude to future Missouri Valley
Conference championship aspirations, the Drake men's tennis collectively left
every ounce of effort on the court but ultimately came up short in dropping a
4-2 decision to Wichita State in the semifinals of the State Farm MVC
Championship on Saturday (April 24).
"The guys fought really hard in a very competitive match,"
Bulldog head coach Jimmy Borendame commented.
"I'm extremely proud of a number of our guys who played through injuries
all season and continued to play and play hard and that put us on the brink of
victory today. I hope this was a
season to build on and next year our expectations will be to play for an NCAA
Tournament berth."
Wichita State clinched the doubles point following an 8-4
decision by Adrian Chermaci and Vlad Marinescu over freshman Jean Erasmus (Windhoek, Namibia) and sophomore Jonathan Hadash (Lapid,
Israel) at the No. 2 position.
The advantage swelled to 3-0 on the strength of singles
victories at the bottom two slots.
Junior Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia), the MVC
Player of the Year, garnered Drake's initial point in the match besting Sven
Kasper at No. 1, 6-3, 6-2.
Freshman James McKie (Edinburgh, Scotland) cut the deficit to 3-2
registering a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Marinescu at No. 2.
The wins represented the 27th and 25th singles triumphs for
Ballivian and McKie, respectively.
The Shockers ended the drama when David Cavalcanti recorded
the deciding tally with a 6-4, 6-2 decision versus Hadash.
WICHITA
STATE (13-8) DEF. DRAKE (15-9), 4-2
APRIL
24, 2010 - WICHITA, KAN.
SINGLES:
No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Sven Kasper (WSU), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 James McKie (DU) def. Vlad Marinescu
(WSU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 Valentin Mihai (WSU) led Jean Erasmus
(DU), 6-4, 5-4, unfinished
No. 4 David Cavalcanti (WSU) def. Jonathan Hadash (DU), 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 Matheus Pereira (WSU) def. Ryan Drake
(DU), 6-1, 6-2
No. 6 Adrian Chermaci (WSU) def. Ryan King (DU),
6-0, 6-1
Order
of finish (6,5,1,2,4)
DOUBLES:
No. 1 Mihai/Kasper (WSU) led Ballivian/McKie
(DU), 7-6, unfinished
No. 2 Chermaci/Marinescu (WSU) def.
Erasmus/Hasdash (DU), 8-4
No. 3 Pereira/Cavalcanti (WSU) def. Drake/King
(DU), 8-2
Order of finish (3,2)
