JANUARY 25, 2012
WHAT'S AHEAD: The Drake
men's tennis team travels to Harvard, Mass., to compete in the Harvard Kick-Off
Invitational this weekend. The
Bulldogs will face No. 68 DePaul on Friday (Jan. 27) at 7:30 a.m. CT, before
closing out their day playing doubles against No. 70 Harvard that evening at
4:00 p.m. CT. Drake finishes
singles competition versus the Crimson at 8:45 a.m. CT on Saturday (Jan. 28)
before playing both singles and doubles against Denver at 5:00 p.m. CT.
IN OUR LAST ENCOUNTERS: The
Bulldogs have not played either Denver or DePaul since the 2010 campaign when
Drake suffered a 6-1 setback against the 53rd-ranked Pioneers on Feb. 14, 2010,
before downing the Blue Demons, 6-1, on Feb. 27, 2010, at the Roger Knapp
Tennis Center. The Bulldogs' last
encounter with Harvard occurred at the 2009 ITA National Team Indoors in
Knoxville, Tenn., where the Crimson earned a 4-3 decision.
OPENING WEEKEND RECAP: Setting the
stage for what it hopes is another Missouri Valley Conference title this
spring, Drake captured a school-record tying eight titles on the final day of
the State Farm MVC Individuals last Sunday (Jan. 22) at the Roger Knapp Tennis
Center.
Competition kicked off with all three of the Bulldogs' doubles teams
winning their respective semifinal matches to advance to the championship
round.
The tandem of sophomore Robin Goodman (Cambridge, England) and freshman Alen Salibasic (Tuzla, Bosnia &
Herzegovina) earned the Bulldogs' first title dispatching of Illinois State's
Jordan Badenko and Willi Peter, 8-3, at No. 2.
The duo of junior Anis Ghorbel
(Sfax, Tunisia) and senior Cesar Bracho
(Luque, Paraguay) then added a second championship at No. 3, besting Juan
Estenssoro and Nestor Perez of Wichita State, 8-4. It was the second
doubles crown for Ghorbel after pairing with Mauricio Ballivian to win the No.
1 doubles title in 2011.
Senior Jonathan Hadash
(Lapid, Israel) collected Drake's third title at No. 6 singles, downing
Bradley's Eric Nguyen, 6-3, 6-3.
Junior James McKie
(Edinburgh, Scotland) won his second career championship, registering a 6-2,
6-1 triumph over Skip Span of Illinois State at No. 3. McKie had
previously claimed a title at the No. 5 position as a freshman in 2010.
Junior Jean Erasmus
(Windhoek, Namibia) also pulled in his second career crown, dealing Tuomas
Manner of Illinois State a 6-3, 6-0 setback at the No. 2 slot.
Goodman followed by adding his second title of the day, downing Illinois
State's Peter, 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 5 position.
On the strength of a rally to win a first-set tiebreaker, Salibasic
staked claim to his second championship of the day, defeating Tomislav
Gregurovic from Wichita State at No. 4 singles, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Rounding out the victory parade to help the Bulldogs sweep the top-six
titles was Ghorbel. The 51st-rated player in the latest Intercollegiate
Tennis Association rankings, Ghorbel wrapped up the competition edging Alex
Pelaez of Illinois State, 7-6 (6), 6-0 in the top singles draw.
UP NEXT: Drake
returns to the Roger Knapp Tennis Center to begin a five-match homestand
hosting Western Illinois and Chicago State on Feb. 4. Match times are slated for 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
