Drake wrapped up its first weekend of spring play with two home wins and one road loss. On Saturday, the Bulldogs traveled to Lincoln, Nebraska, where they were defeated by the Nebraska Cornhuskers 7-0. They bounced back on Sunday in Des Moines, defeating Saint Louis 4-1 and Grand View 7-0.
Nebraska 7, Drake 0
The Bulldogs failed to secure a point in the road match against the Big Ten opponent, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers took the doubles point, with Calvin Mueller and Nikolay Sysoev defeating
Logan Tomovski and
Jose Alessandro Hernandez 6-2 and Leo Linquet and Joan Torres defeating
Aaron Dawson and
Adan Tarquino 6-1. The number one doubles match went unfinished;
Ben Johnson and
Will Ecklund were tied 4-4 with Anton Shepp and Henry Bilcic when the game was abandoned. In singles play, every Bulldog was defeated in straight sets.
Drake 4, Saint Louis 1
The Bulldogs bounced back from the loss by winning the home opener 4-1 over Saint Louis, Head Coach
Justin Stuckey's former team. Tomovski and Hernandez kicked off the day with a 6-4 victory over Valentin Vasquez and Riki Koshimiz, and Johnson and Ecklund followed suit with a 6-4 win over Andres Castellanos and Luca Lo Nardo in the top doubles game, giving the Bulldogs the doubles point. Dawson and Tarquino led their match 6-5 when it was abandoned.
The Bulldogs dominated singles play, winning three matches and taking home the victory. The three Bulldog wins all came in straight sets: Johnson defeated Lo Nardo 7-6, 6-4, Hernandez took down Vasquez 6-1, 6-1 and Tomovski won 6-2, 6-3 over Sebastian Munoz. The lone Bulldog loss came from Koshimizu, who bested Dawson 6-3, 6-2. At the match's completion,
Christian Winstead led Andres Castellanos 1-6, 6-1, 5-4, and
Will Ecklund led Max Chen 4-6, 6-4, 3-1; but the matches were abandoned.
Drake 7, Grand View 0
Capping off the weekend festivities with an exclamation point, the Bulldogs shut out the cross-town Grand View Vikings. Drake hopped out to an early lead by securing the doubles point. Tomovski and Hernandez took down Adrian Reyes and Lars Kruger 6-2 in the second position and Tarquino and Dawson shut out Abbot Haner and Pierre De Chassey in the third position.
Johnson secured a statement 6-0, 6-0 win over Enzo Naveda Canessa in the top singles spot. The remainder of the Bulldog competitors also won in straight sets—Hernandez, Ecklund, Tomovski and
Cowen Lau all defeated their opponents 6-1, and Tarquino won 6-1, 6-2.
Doubles Results vs. Nebraska (Order of finish: 3,2)
Singles Results vs. Nebraska (Order of finish: 2, 1, 6, 5, 3, 4)
Doubles Results vs. SLU (Order of finish: 2, 1)
Singles Results vs SLU
Doubles Results vs. Grand View
Singles Results vs. Grand View
