DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 41 Drake University tennis team went 1-1 on Sunday afternoon to close out its weekend homestand with a dominating 7-0 win over Omaha. In the morning match, South Alabama tripped up the Bulldogs, 4-3.
With Sunday's results, the Bulldogs stand at 8-2 on the season heading into a series of five-straight matches on the road.
In the afternoon match, Drake rebounded quickly from the morning's loss with straight set wins on all six singles courts to dispatch the Mavericks, 7-0.
Drake claimed the doubles point with Ravi Patel (London, England) and Matt Frost (London England) winning at No. 2, 6-1. The freshman tandem of Calum MacGeoch (Edinburgh, Scotland) and Ben Wood (Hertfordshire, England) also picked up a doubles win a No. 3 by a 6-3 margin.
Patel then continued his unbeaten 2015 in singles competition, winning at No. 1, 6-2, 6-0, over Colin Buckley to secure the third point for Drake after Ben Stride (Bognor Regis, England) opened singles play with a 6-1, 6-0, win at No. 3 against John Ellis.
“Ravi is always rock solid for us,” said Drake head coach Davidson Kozlowski. “He's a guy we consistently know what we're going to get out of. Wherever we play him, we know we're going to get a solid performance.”
The consistency showed itself in the morning's match against South Alabama with Patel winning his doubles and singles matches. He again teamed up with Frost to earn a 6-4 win. Bayo Philips (Houston, Texas) and Stride claimed the other doubles match for Drake.
However, the Bulldogs couldn't keep that momentum on the singles courts despite Patel prevailing at No. 3, 6-1, 6-3, in the first match to finish. Stride won at No. 5, 7-6, 6-2, over Gerhard Gruindelingh to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead. However, the Jaguars rallied back against a re-tooled Drake lineup at Nos. 1, 4 and 6 to hand the Bulldogs their second loss of the season.
“This morning was extremely disappointing,” Kozlowski said. “It's the first time since I've been at Drake that we've lost after winning the doubles point. I made a coaching decision to try to get a look at few different guys and bring some guys back from injury to get some playing time. That backfired on us this morning.”
Following six-straight matches at home, the Bulldogs will take to the road next weekend for a pair of matches in Madison, Wis. On Feb. 13, the team takes on homestanding Wisconsin at 6 p.m. followed by a Feb. 14 match against North Carolina State.
South Alabama 4, #41 Drake 3
Feb 08, 2015 at Des Moines, Iowa (Roger Knapp Tennis Center)
Singles
1. Leitner, Daniel (USA) def. #30 Lott, Ben (DU) 7-5, 1-6, 6-3
2. Srkala, Tim (USA) def. Frost, Matt (DU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Patel, Ravi (DU) def. Belda, Manuel (USA) 6-1, 6-3
4. Jacobs, Tuki (USA) def. Mullis, Ben (DU) 2-6, 6-4, 6-0
5. Stride, Ben (DU) def. Gruindelingh, Gerhar (USA) 7-6, 6-2
6. Gringras, Olivier (USA) def. Philips, Bayo (DU) 7-5, 3-6, 6-3
Doubles
1. Leitner, Daniel/Gruindelingh, Gerhar (USA) def. Lott, Ben/Mullis, Ben (DU) 6-2
2. Frost, Matt/Patel, Ravi (DU) def. Belda, Manuel/Troglia, Juan (USA) 6-4
3. Philips, Bayo/Stride, Ben (DU) def. Srkala, Tim/Gringras, Olivier (USA) 7-5
Match Notes
South Alabama 5-3
Drake 7-2; National ranking #41
Order of finish: Doubles (); Singles (3,2,5,1,4,6)
#41 Drake 7, Omaha 0
Feb 08, 2015 at Des Moines, Iowa (Roger Knapp Tennis Center)
Singles
1. Patel, Ravi (DU) def. Colin Buckley (UNO) 6-2, 6-0
2. Frost, Matt (DU) def. Erik Anderson (UNO) 6-2, 6-2
3. Stride, Ben (DU) def. John Ellis (UNO) 6-1, 6-0
4. Mullis, Ben (DU) def. Marko Minic (UNO) 6-3, 6-0
5. MacGeoch, Calum (DU) def. Ignace Warson (UNO) 6-0, 7-5
6. Wood, Ben (DU) def. Nathan Greteman (UNO) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles
1. Lott, Ben/Stride, Ben (DU) vs. Colin Buckley/Nathan Greteman (UNO) 5-3, unfinished
2. Patel, Ravi/Frost, Matt (DU) def. Erik Anderson/Ignace Warson (UNO) 6-1
3. MacGeoch, Calum/Wood, Ben (DU) def. John Ellis/Marko Minic (UNO) 6-3
Match Notes
Omaha 2-5
Drake 8-2; National ranking #41
Order of finish: Doubles (); Singles (3,1,2,4,5,6)
