DES MOINES, Iowa - The 30th-ranked Drake men's tennis team overcame a feisty Northern Illinois squad en route to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory in its season opener on Friday (Jan. 17) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.

The Bulldogs (1-0) dug themselves an early hole in the affair after dropping two of three doubles contests against the Huskies (0-1) to fall behind 1-0 entering singles action.

Drake began its slow climb back into the match in singles as senior Robin Goodman (Cambridge, England) registered a 6-1, 6-2 victory past Jovan Zeljkovic on court No. 4 to even the affair at one.

Sophomore Ben Lott (Newcastle, England) extended the Bulldogs' advantage to 2-1 on the strength of a 6-5 (0), 6-2 decision over Dor Amir at the No. 2 position.

Fighting back to erase a second-set deficit against Axel Lagerlof on the No. 1 court was junior Alen Salibasic (Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina), who posted a 7-4 victory in the tiebreaker to secure a 6-2, 6-5 (4) triumph to give Drake a 3-1 lead.

Northern Illinois cut the deficit to 3-2 after a win by Frederic Cadieux at the No. 3 slot.

Junior Ravi Patel (London, England) fell behind 4-2 in the initial set of his showdown with Matt Lynch at No. 5 before rallying to clinch the tilt for the Bulldogs with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph.

In his first career match for Drake, sophomore Rakshit Rishi (New Delhi, India) battled Simon Fromont for three sets before suffering a 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 setback at No. 6.

The match was played under experimental scoring rules in place for the first month of the season where both singles and doubles are scored to six points.  Tiebreakers are contested in both when the score is tied at five.

The Bulldogs return to action on Sunday (Jan. 19) as Drake battles No. 25 Tulsa in a 12:00 p.m. contest in Tulsa, Okla.

NO. 30 DRAKE (1-0) DEF. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (0-1), 4-3

JAN. 17, 2014 • ROGER KNAPP TENNIS CENTER

SINGLES:

No. 1 Alen Salibasic (DU) def. Axel Lagerlof (NIU), 6-2, 6-5 (4)

No. 2 Ben Lott (DU) def. Dor Amir (NIU), 6-5 (0), 6-2

No. 3 Frederic Cadieux (NIU) def. No. 123 Matt Frost (DU), 6-3, 6-2

No. 4 Robin Goodman (DU) def. Jovan Zeljkovic (NIU), 6-1, 6-2

No. 5 Ravi Patel (DU) def. Matt Lynch (NIU), 6-4, 6-3

No. 6 Simon Formont (NIU) def. Rakshit Rishi (DU), 6-2, 1-6, 6-4

Order of Finish: 4,2,1,3,5,6

DOUBLES:

No. 1 Amir/Lagerlof (NIU) def. No. 8 Goodman/Patel (DU), 6-3

No. 2 Lott/Salibasic (DU) def. Lynch/Zeljkovic (NIU), 6-5 (3)

No. 3 Cadieux/Formont (NIU) def. Frost/Ben Mullis (DU), 6-5 (3)

Order of Finish: 1,2,3