DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University men's tennis team has a home doubleheader Saturday with a match against Wichita State at 10 a.m. and then a match against Valparaiso at 5 p.m to wrap up the Bulldogs home portion of their schedule.
The Bulldogs split their doubleheader last weekend, with a 5-2 win over UMKC and a 4-3 loss in a nail-biter against nationally ranked Old Dominion. Old Dominion took the point in the doubles portion of the match to go up 1-0. The singles matches were all very tightly contested, and only two matches were finished in two sets. With one match left, the overall match tied 3-3. Tom Hands took the match against Vincent Schneider of Old Dominion to the third set, but lost in a 7-5 tiebreaker.
The match was also highlighted by Barny Thorold defeating No. 78 ranked singles player Aziz Kijametovic in three sets. In the match against UMKC
Tom Hands won his singles match to bring his season win total up to 13, which is tied with
Ben Clark for the team lead. The doubles pairing of
Barny Thorold and
Vinny Gillespie went 1-1 on the weekend to bring their team leading win total up to 11.
This Saturday is senior day for Drake, and Ben Wood will be honored for his contributions to the team over the past four years. This season Wood is fourth on the team in singles wins with 10, and doubles wins with 12. He is coming off his first career Summit League Player of the Week honor as he led Drake last week with a combined 4-0 singles and doubles record.
The Bulldogs' first matchup of the day, Wichita State, brings a seven-game winning streak into Des Moines. The Shockers are led by Murkel Dellian who has a 14-5 singles record and a 10-6 record in doubles matches. After they face off against the Shockers, Drake will take on Summit League foe Valparaiso. Valparaiso is on a four-match winning streak. The Crusaders are led by Gabriel Carvajal and Kweisi Kenyatte, who both have nine singles victories this season.
Following the matches this weekend, Drake hits the road and travels to Lincoln, Neb. Wednesday, April 18 to to take on Nebraska at 5 p.m. After Nebraska, the Bulldogs have their final regular season match against Illinois State in Normal, Ill. at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 22.
