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Men's Tennis Ranked In Final ITA Poll Of 2010-11 Campaign

Men's Tennis Drake Athletic Communications

Drake Champions: 2010-11 Men's Tennis

Led by the MVC Coach of the Year and Player of the Year, the Bulldogs won their fourth MVC title in five years.

With the 2020 spring sports season canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, GoDrakeBulldogs.com revisits some of the tremendous accomplishments of past Drake University teams that have won conference titles. 



The 2010-11 Drake University men's tennis team won its fourth Missouri Valley conference title in five years by going unbeaten in league play and finishing the season ranked No. 62 in the country with a 21-3 record.


The Bulldogs' 5-0 mark in league play was part of a 13-match win streak to close the regular season. That was followed by two 4-0 wins in the MVC Championship over SIU and Wichita State to advance to what was then program's fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and its first since 2008.

The Bulldogs were clipped by No. 17 Illinois, 4-0, in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on the Illini's home courts. 

Drake was led throughout the season by Mauricio Ballivian, who was named the MVC Player of the Year for the second-straight year. Ballivian was the fifth-straight Bulldog to earn the honor, the first to do it in back-to-back seasons and the second to win the award twice.

Ballivian was undefeated in conference play at No. 1 singles and 16-4 overall in regular-season dual matches. He was joined on the All-MVC first team by Jean Erasmus and Anis Ghorbel at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively. The trio was an impressive 14-0 in league matches. James McKie was named to the singles All-Select Team. 

Ballivian and Ghorbel earned all-league accolades at No. 1 doubles while Erasmus and McKie did so at No. 2 doubles.

First-year head coach Evan Austin was named the league's Coach of the Year for leading the team to the MVC regular-season and tournament titles.

Academically, Ballivian and Jonathan Hadash were named to the league Scholar-Athlete Team with Hadash earning MVC Elite 17 honors. 

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