Stillwater, Okla - The Drake men's tennis team wrapped up their trip to Oklahoma where they participated in the ITA Central Regional Championships. The Bulldogs won nine matches across three days of competition. The doubles pairing of
Matija Matic and
Oliver Johansson advanced to the doubles quarterfinals round and
Jeremy Schifris advanced to the singles round of 16.
"We continue to demonstrate as a team that we are competitive on the national stage," Head Coach Ben Lott said. "We were very unfortunate and had some luck go against us in our pursuit of reaching the championship matches in both singles and doubles at this event. We continue to progress nicely on the plan that we have established together as a group. We are excited for our last fall event at Notre Dame, and another opportunity to test ourselves against some of the best teams in the country."
Markus Bolin and
Jeremy Schifris won singles matches for Drake on Wednesday, with both bulldogs defeating their opponents in straight sets. The Bulldogs also won both of their doubles matches on Wednesday. The duos of
Will Blevins/
Will Ecklund and
Markus Bolin/
Matt Clegg both bested their opponents 8-3 in the round of 64.
Olle Sonesson Lidholt and Schifris were singles victors for Drake on Thursday. Schifris picked up his second singles victory of the tournament in the round of 32 and Sonesson Lidholt won his match in straight sets to advance past the consolation round of 32. The Bulldogs also won two more doubles matches on Thursday. Matic and Johansson teamed up to win two doubles matches in dominant fashion, winning 8-4 and 8-1 and moving past the round of 16.
Matic and Johansson saw their impressive run come to an end in the quarterfinal round of the main draw, losing 8-6 in a hard-fought match to Pierce Rollins and Timothy Carlsson Seger from Tulsa University.
Jeremy Schifris battled against Arthur Bellegy from the University of New Mexico in the main draw round of 16 but ultimately lost in the tiebreaker set.
In the consolation bracket,
Olle Sonesson Lidholt defeated Ryota Fukushima from Saint Louis University in straight sets in the round of 16. Sonesson Lidholt was unable to continue onto the quarterfinals due to an injury.
Next up, the bulldogs will travel to South Bend, Ind. for the Fighting Irish Mini-Duals from Nov. 3 to Nov. 5.
Wednesday results
- Marcelo Sepulveda (WSU) defeated Matt Clegg (DU) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5
- Ethan Terry (UND) defeated Olle Sonesson Lidholt (DU) 6-3, 6-1
- Markus Bolin (DU) defeated Cayden Cheek (ORU) 6-3, 6-1
- Theo Ortis (SLU) defeated Will Blevins (DU) 6-0, 6-2
- Nicolas Recoura (UNM) defeated Will Ecklund (DU) 7-6 [7-5], 6-4
- Jake Sweeney (UA) defeated Oliver Johansson (DU) 7-6 [7-5], 7-6 [7-5]
- Jeremy Schifris (DU) defeated Zachary Kuo (CU) 6-2, 6-1
- Benedikt Emesz (UA) defeated Markus Bolin (DU) 6-2, 6-1
- Christo Alex (UND) defeated Will Blevins (DU) 6-3, 6-1
- Will Blevins and Will Ecklund (DU) defeated Declan Townsend and Ryota Fukushima (SLU) 8-3
- Markus Bolin and Matt Clegg (DU) defeated Shin Inoue and Zachary Kuo (CU) 8-3
Thursday results
Friday results
