DES MOINES, Iowa — The Bulldogs dropped their conference play opener at home against North Dakota 2-5. After the loss, Drake fell to 3-8 overall, and North Dakota improved to 9-3. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs had two strong individual performances from
Jose Alessandro Hernandez and
Will Ecklund.
North Dakota 5, Drake 2
The Fighting Hawks' top doubles team of Leandro Zgraggen and Ange-Kevin Koua took down Ecklund and
Ben Johnson 6-3. North Dakota's duo on the second doubles court, consisting of Ethan Terry and Leo Galliano, won 6-2 over
Christian Winstead and
Logan Tomovski. When North Dakota secured the doubles point,
Jose Alessandro Hernandez and
Adan Tarquino were tied with their opponents 4-4 on the third doubles court.
Alessandro Hernandez picked up a massive singles win on the second doubles court over North Dakota senior, Koua. Hernandez lost the first set 4-6, but showed poise and battled back to win 6-4 and 6-3 in the final two sets. Ecklund continued his strong season with a straight-set singles win. He matched up against Jayho Hong on the fifth singles court and defeated him 6-0 in the first set. Ecklund put the exclamation mark on the win with a 6-2 second-set victory. The rest of the Bulldogs fell in straight sets.
Doubles Results:
Singles Results: