SAN DEIGO, Calif. – No. 33 Drake University men's tennis team started defending its Hilton San Diego Mission Spring Classic title on Thursday (March 19) as the Bulldogs defeated 38th-ranked San Diego State, 4-2, at the Aztec Tennis Complex.
The Bulldogs improved to 17-5 and earned their 10th win over a ranked team, while handing the Aztecs their first home loss.
Drake rolled through the doubles point with a dominating 6-1 win by Alen Salibasic (Tuzla, Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Ben Mullis (Leicestershire, England) at No. 2. Ben Lott (Newcastle, England) and Bayo Philips (Houston, Texas) secured the doubles point with a 6-3 win over No. 63 Hendrik Jebens and Freddy Gelbrich at No. 1.
"I can't say enough about the level our doubles played today. We came out and jumped on them early,” said Drake head coach Davidson Kozlowski. “We continued to force our presence by winning the first set of four matches, but SDSU started finding themselves and really put themselves in position to steal this match from us.”
Philips continued his strong play into singles as he was the first one off the court with a straight set victory at No. 6. The Aztecs earned their first point of the match with a win at No. 4, but freshman Calum MacGeoch (Edinburgh, Scotland) won both of his sets in tiebreakers ,7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), at No. 5 to give Drake a 3-1 lead. After dropping No. 1, No. 38 Lott clinched the match for the Bulldogs with a hard fought three-set win, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-3, at No. 2.
“It was a great match and we are happy to get out of there with a win,” said Kozlowski.
Drake will play No. 22 Harvard in the semifinals on Friday at 12 p.m. CT at the Aztec Tennis Complex.
#33 Drake 4, #38 San Diego State 2
March 19, 2015 at San Diego, Calif. (Aztec Tennis Center)
|
Singles
1. Freddy Gelbrich (SDSU) def. #42 Salibasic, Alen (DU) 3-6, 7-6 (6-0), 6-3
|
|
2. #38 Lott, Ben (DU) def. Thorsten Bertsch (SDSU) 7-6 (6-3), 4-6, 6-3
|
|
3. Hendrik Jebens (SDSU) vs. Frost, Matt (DU) 7-6 (6-3), 4-6, 5-5, unfinished
|
|
4. Marko Goles-Babic (SDSU) def. Patel, Ravi (DU) 7-5, 6-4
|
|
5. MacGeoch, Calum (DU) def. Milen Ianakiev (SDSU) 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (6-3)
|
|
6. Philips, Bayo (DU) def. Saxon Buehning (SDSU) 6-2, 6-3
|
|
Doubles
1. Lott, Ben/Philips, Bayo (DU) def. #63 Freddy Gelbrich/Hendrik Jebens (SDSU) 6-3
|
|
2. Salibasic, Alen/Mullis, Ben (DU) def. Thorsten Bertsch/Jonas Meinzer (SDSU) 6-1
|
|
3. Marko Goles-Babic/Andranik Khachatryan (SDSU) vs. Frost, Matt/Patel, Ravi (DU) 4-4, unfinished
|
|
Match Notes
Drake 17-5, 1-0 MVC; National ranking #33
|
|
San Diego State 10-5, 1-1 MW; National ranking #38
|
|
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (6,4,5,1,2,3)
|
