FEBRUARY 17, 2012

LINCOLN, Neb. - The 73rd-rated Drake men's tennis team registered a stunning 4-3 victory at No. 38 Nebraska on Friday (Feb. 17) to extend the Bulldogs' winning streak to seven straight.

The triumph over the Huskers was the first for Drake since the Bulldogs posted an identical 4-3 victory at Nebraska exactly four years to the date on Feb. 17, 2008.

"I feel like we've been real close to getting a win like this for some time and it is a tremendous victory for our program," Drake head coach Evan Austin commented.  "I'm so proud of the way the guys competed and believed in themselves tonight."

The Bulldogs seized the early advantage in the affair registering doubles victories at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions to stake themselves to a 1-0 lead entering singles action.

The road wasn't easy in doubles as the tandem of junior Jean Erasmus (Windhoek, Namibia) and sophomore Robin Goodman (Cambridge, England) claimed an 8-4 decision on the No. 3 court before the Cornhuskers' fifth-rated duo of Chris Aumueller and Benedikt Lindheim forced a winner-take-all tilt at No. 2, after posting an 8-6 at the No. 1 slot.

The showdown on the No. 2 court went down to the wire with a tiebreaker needed to decide which squad was going to capture the doubles tally.  In the tiebreaker, the Drake duo of senior Cesar Bracho (Luque, Paraguay) and freshman Alen Salibasic (Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina) persevered to notch a 9-8 (7-4) decision over the 22nd-rated pair of Robert Schulze and Andre Stenger.

Junior James McKie (Edinburgh, Scotland) struck first for the Bulldogs in singles carving out a 6-0, 6-1 triumph against Stenger at the No. 3 position.

Salibasic extended Drake's lead to 3-0 downing Schulze at No. 4, 6-3, 6-4.

Chris Aumueller, who is rated 60th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, cut Drake's advantage to 3-1, on the strength of a 6-1, 6-3 win over 73rd-ranked Anis Ghorbel (Sfax, Tunisia) on the top court.

Goodman, who is the current Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week, then secured the triumph for the Bulldogs besting Stefan Gollner at No. 5, 6-3, 6-4.

Nebraska added two wins at the Nos. 2 and 6 positions to round out a 4-3 Drake victory.

The Bulldogs will have little time to savor their triumph as Drake battles No. 66 Idaho on Saturday (Feb. 17) at 4:00 p.m.

NO. 73 DRAKE (8-1) DEF. NO. 38 NEBRASKA (4-3), 4-3

FEBRUARY 17, 2012 • LINCOLN, NEB.

SINGLES:

No. 1 No. 60 Chris Aumueller (NEB) def. No. 73 Anis Ghorbel (DU), 6-1, 6-3

No. 2 No. 54 Benedikt Lindheim (NEB) def. Jean Erasmus (DU), 7-6 (5), 6-0

No. 3 James McKie (DU) def. Andre Stenger (NEB), 6-0, 6-1

No. 4 Alen Salibasic (DU) def. Robert Schulze (NEB), 6-3, 6-4

No. 5 Robin Goodman (DU) def. Stefan Gollner (NEB), 6-3, 6-4

No. 6 Eric Sock (NEB) def. Ben Mullis (DU), 6-2, 6-3

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

DOUBLES:

No. 1 No. 5 Aumueller/Lindheim (NEB) def. Ghorbel/McKie (DU), 8-6

No. 2 Cesar Bracho/Salibasic (DU) def. No. 22 Schulze/Stenger (NEB), 9-8 (4)

No. 3 Eramus/Goodman (DU) def. Gollner/Sock (NEB), 8-4

Order of finish: (3,1,2)