DES MOINES, Iowa — The Bulldogs dropped a nailbiter conference match at home against Illinois State. Drake went down 3-1, then battled back to tie it at 3 apiece before losing 4-3.
 
Illinois State 4, Drake 3
The Redbirds started the match hot, sweeping the doubles point. The Bulldogs nearly won on the top two courts but lost in 7-5 tiebreakers. In singles, Illinois State continued to play strong, with Christian Capacci taking down Logan Tomovski on the fourth court. Will Ecklund got the Bulldogs on the board with a 6-4, 6-4 win on the fifth court. Then, Illinois State got within one point of winning the match after Caden Scarlett defeated Adan Tarquino on the sixth singles court, making the score 3-1 Redbirds.
 
Jose Alessandro Hernandez and Ben Johnson gave the Bulldogs life with wins on the second and third singles courts, respectively. Both went down 6-1 in the first set but came back to win sets two and three. The match came down to a battle on the top singles court, where Christian Winstead went head-to-head with Tomas Valencia. Winstead won the first set 7-5 but lost the final two sets 6-4 to drop the match.
 
Doubles Results (Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1)

• Tomas Valencia and Adrian Dibildox (ISU) defeated Will Ecklund and Ben Johnson (DU) 7-5
• Tin Ostro and Caden Scarlett (ISU) defeated Logan Tomovski and Christian Winstead (DU) 7-5
• Manuel Pavia and Christian Capacci (ISU) defeated Jose Alessandro Hernandez and Adan Tarquino (DU) 6-4

Singles Results (Order of Finish: 4, 5, 6, 2, 3, 1)

• Tomas Valencia (ISU) defeated Christian Winstead (DU) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
• Jose Alessandro Hernandez (DU) defeated Adrian Dibildox (ISU) 1-6, 6-3, 7-5
• Ben Johnson (DU) defeated Tin Ostro (ISU) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Christian Capacci (ISU) defeated Logan Tomovski (DU) 6-4, 6-4
• Will Ecklund (DU) defeated Jett Leong (ISU) 6-4, 6-4
• Caden Scarlett (ISU) defeated Adan Tarquino (DU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)