JANUARY 28, 2012

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Unable to overcome an early deficit, the 67th-rated Drake men's tennis suffered its first loss of the season dropping a 4-1 decision at No. 73 Harvard on Saturday (Jan. 28) as part of the Harvard Kick-Off Invitational.

The Crimson seized control of the affair in doubles as the No. 2 tandem of Christo Schultz and Henry Steer posted an 8-6 decision past the Bulldogs' duo of junior Anis Ghorbel (Sfax, Tunisia) and freshman Ben Mullis (Leicestershire, England) to clinch the doubles point.

In singles, Ghorbel was able to square the tilt at one apiece following his 6-1, 6-4 victory over Jonathan Pearlman at the No. 1 position.

Harvard then rolled off three unanswered triumphs to secure the match.

Drake concludes action at the Harvard Kick-Off Invitational later this afternoon versus Denver at 5:00 p.m. CT.

NO. 73 HARVARD (2-0) DEF. NO. 67 DRAKE (1-1), 4-1

HARVARD KICK-OFF INVITATIONAL

JANUARY 28, 2012 • CAMBRIDGE, MASS.

SINGLES

No. 1 No. 51 Anis Ghorbel def. Jonathan Pearlman (HARV), 6-1, 6-4

No. 2 Denis Nguyen leading James McKie (DU), 7-5, 2-2 did not finish

No. 3 Henry Steer (HARV) def. Jean Erasmus (DU), 7-5, 6-1

No. 4 Alex Steinroeder (HARV) def. Alen Salibasic (DU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4

No. 5 Christo Schultz leading Robin Goodman (DU), 5-7, 6-1, 5-3 did not finish

No. 6 Shaun Chaudhuri (HARV) def. Ben Mullis (DU), 6-2, 6-4

Order of finish: (1,6,3,4)

DOUBLES

No. 1 No. 45 Alistair Felton/Casey MacMaster (HARV) def. Erasmus/McKie (DU), 8-4

No. 2 Schultz/Steer (HARV) def. Ghorbel/Mullis (DU), 8-6

No. 3 Goodman/Salibasic (DU) def. Nguyen/Steinroeder (HARV), 8-4

Order of finish: (1,3,2)