IOWA CITY, Iowa - The 36th-ranked Drake men's tennis squad extended its
winning streak to 10 straight, while snapping a five-match skein for Western
Michigan, on the strength of the Bulldogs' 6-1 victory past the Broncos on
Saturday (Feb. 23).
Sparked by an 8-6 doubles-clinching
triumph at the No. 1 position from the 28th-rated duo of seniors Anis Ghorbel (Sfax, Tunisia) and James McKie (Edinburgh, Scotland),
Drake assumed a 1-0 lead in the tilt following its sweep of the doubles competition.
McKie saw his 11-match
winning streak halted after Nadin Indre opened singles play registering
a 6-2, 6-2 triumph on the No. 1 court to even the affair at one.
Junior Robin Goodman (Cambridge, England)
pushed Drake ahead to stay following his 6-3, 6-3 win past Ruben Greiner at No.
3.
Sophomore Ben Mullis (Leicestershire, England)
extended the margin to 3-1 dispatching Pablo Mora at No. 5, 6-1, 6-4.
Clinching the victory
for the Bulldogs at No. 2 was 45th-ranked Ghorbel, who downed Ross VanderPloeg,
7-5, 6-1.
Sophomore Alen Salibasic (Tuzla, Bosnia and
Herzegovina) and freshman Ben Lott
(Newcastle, England) capped off the win total for Drake recording three-set
triumphs at the Nos. 4 and 6 positions, respectively.
Salibasic opened his
showdown with Aaron Wong at No. 4 with a first-set 7-6 (4) win, before Wong
sent the match into a third set with a 6-4 victory. In the super-tiebreaker, Salibasic outlasted Wong, 10-8.
Conversely, Lott
dropped his opening frame versus Andrew Cahn, 7-5, before rallying to record a
5-7, 6-3, 6-4 triumph.
Drake returns to
action on Wednesday (Feb. 27) with an in-state showdown at Iowa. Match time against the Hawkeyes is
slated for 6:00 p.m.
NO. 36 DRAKE (10-1) DEF. WESTERN MICHIGAN (8-4), 6-1
FEB. 23, 2013 • IOWA CITY, IOWA
SINGLES:
No. 1 Nadin Indre
(WMU) def. No. 72 James McKie (DU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 No. 45 Anis
Ghorbel (DU) def. Ross VanderPloeg (WMU), 7-5, 6-1
No. 3 Robin Goodman
(DU) def. Ruben Greiner (WMU), 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 Alen Salibasic
(DU) def. Aaron Wong (WMU), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 10-8
No. 5 Ben Mullis (DU)
def. Pablo Mora (WMU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 6 Ben Lott (DU) def.
Andrew Cahn (WMU), 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
Order of finish: 1,3,5,2,4,6
DOUBLES:
No. 1 No.28
Ghorbel/McKie (DU) def. Greiner/Indre (WMU), 8-6
No. 2 Lott/Salibasic
(DU) def. Payne/Wong (WMU), 8-6
No. 3 Goodman/Mullis
(DU) def. Jim Beckwith/VanderPloeg (WMU), 8-3
Order of finish: 3,1,2
