BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The Drake University men's tennis team earned its 10th MVC Tournament title on Sunday with its 4-0 sweep of Southern Illinois at the Bloomington Tennis Center.
"The entire team and coaching staff are so excited about this championship. It has been tough a year battling injuries and we knew once we had everyone, not just healthy, but match ready that we could do great things," said Drake head coach
Davidson Kozlowski. "We put in a great two weeks of practice after wrapping up the regular season championship and feel we put in one of our most complete efforts today, giving us a sweep of the MVC regular season and tourney titles this year."
The Bulldogs put together a strong doubles performance at courts two and three. Sophomores
Vinny Gillespie and
Tom Hands defeated Michal Klanicka and Daniel Martinez 6-2 at No. 2, while juniors
Ben Stride and
Ben Wood clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory at No. 3.
"Today's match was incredible. The energy was electric throughout out on the court and on the sideline," said Hands. "We put together one of our best performances after a long season and it's nice to see all the hard work and effort pay off."
Hands extended is singles winning streak to five matches with a 6-1, 6-0 trouncing over Martinez at No. 5 singles.
Sophomore
Ben Clark extended the Bulldogs lead to 3-0 after cruising past Param Pun, 6-4, 6-0 at No. 6.
Junior
Calum MacGeoch secured the championship for Drake with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Alex Pozo at No. 4.
The Bulldogs will find out their NCAA Tournament destination on Tuesday, May 2 when the 64-team field is revealed on NCAA.com at 4 p.m.
Drake 4, Southern Illinois 0
Apr 30, 2017 at Bloomington, Ill.
(Bloomington Tennis Center)
Singles competition
1. Gillespie, Vinny (DUM) vs. Piotr Baranski (SIUM) 7-6, 4-4, unfinished
2. Stride, Ben (DUM) vs. Wilder Pimentel (SIUM) 3-6, 6-2, 0-2, unfinished
3. Philips, Bayo (DUM) vs. Michal Kianicka (SIUM) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished
4. MacGeoch, Calum (DUM) def. Alex Pozo (SIUM) 6-4, 6-3
5. Hands, Tom (DUM) def. Daniel Martinez (SIUM) 6-1, 6-0
6. Clark, Ben (DUM) def. Param Pun (SIUM) 6-4, 6-0
Doubles competition
1. Alex Pozo/Piotr Baranski (SIUM) def. Philips, Bayo/Thorold, Barnaby (DUM) 6-1
2. Gillespie, Vinny/Hands, Tom (DUM) def. Michal Kianicka/Daniel Martinez (SIUM) 6-2
3. Stride, Ben/Wood, Ben (DUM) def. Wilder Pimentel/Param Pun (SIUM) 6-3
Match Notes:
Southern Illinois 17-4 (2-1 MVC)
Drake 17-11 (3-0 MVC)
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (5,6,4)
MVC Team Tennis Championship Match
Drake earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
