DES MOINES, IOWA - Claiming victories in seven of its nine matches, the Drake men's tennis team opened its spring campaign with a 5-2 victory over Northern Illinois at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center on Saturday (Feb. 6).

The win represented the first in the head-coaching career for first-year Bulldog mentor Jimmy Borendame.

Drake swept the doubles competition with the tandem of junior Mauricio Ballivian (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and freshman James McKie (Edinburgh, Scotland) registering an 8-1 decision at the No. 1 position over Mikhail Titov and Javier Bernabe to secure the doubles point.

The advantage swelled to 3-0 on the strength of triumphs by McKie and fellow freshman Ryan Drake (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) at the Nos. 2 and 6 singles holes.

Ballivian then stepped forwarded and awarded the match to Drake with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Maksym Bartiuk at top singles slot.

Rounding out the victory parade for the Bulldogs was freshman Jean Erasmus (Windhoek/Namibia), who posted a 6-3, 6-3 decision against Maximilian Phillips at No. 5.

Drake nearly made it a complete sweep of singles but the Bulldogs came up short in third-set tiebreakers at the Nos. 3 and 4 positions.

Drake closes out its homestand on Sunday (Feb. 7) with a 1:00 matinee affair against Memphis.

DRAKE (1-0) DEF. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (1-5), 5-2

FEB. 6, 2010 • ROGER KNAPP TENNIS CENTER (DES MOINES, IOWA)

SINGLES:

No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Maksym Bartiuk (NIU), 6-4, 6-4

No. 2 James McKie (DU) def. Mikhail Titov (NIU), 6-3, 6-2

No. 3 Javier Bernabe (NIU) def. Guilherme Marsiglia (DU), 1-6, 6-4, 10-8

No. 4 Roman Turtygin (NIU) def. Jonathan Hadash (DU), 3-6, 7-6 (6), 11-9

No. 5 Jean Erasmus (DU) def. Maximilian Phillips (NIU), 6-3, 6-3

No. 6 Ryan Drake (DU) def. Greg Czajkowski (NIU), 6-2, 6-2

Order of finish (2,6,1,5,3,4)

DOUBLES:

No. 1 Ballivian/McKie (DU) def. Bernabe/Titov (NIU), 8-1

No. 2 Erasmus/Marsiglia (DU) def. Phillips/Turtygin (NIU), 8-1

No. 3 Drake/Hadash (DU) def. Bartiuk/Czajkowski (NIU), 8-3

Order of finish (2,1,3)