AUSTIN, Texas – The Drake University men's tennis team grinded out a 4-3 victory over Rice on the final day of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend event at the Weller Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday.
 
"We had a strong showing yesterday against No. 9 Texas and used that to put together a very confident match today with Rice," said Drake head coach Davidson Kozlowski. "Huge effort getting doubles point, which was the difference. We were down a break on court two and found a way to steal that one."

The Bulldogs managed to win critical doubles point, which proved to be the deciding point. Tom Hands and Barny Thorold defeated Eric Rutledge and Jake Hansen, 7-5 at No. 3 after Rice won on court one. Juniors Ben Stride and Ben Wood came away with a 7-5 win over Oscar Janglin and Emanuel Llams at No. 2 to secure the doubles point.
 
Sophomore Vinny Gillespie put the Bulldogs up 2-0 with a straight set win, 6-4, 6-2, over Tommy Bennett at No. 1 singles. Hands put Drake a point away from sealing the match when he beat David Warren, 6-4, 7-6 at No. 5.
 
The Owls battled back to win court two and then took three-set victories at No. 6 and No. 3 to tie it up at 3-3.

"Incredible job by freshman, Barny Thorold, winning both his doubles and singles matches. He kept his nerve to clinch the win. I also need to applaud Tom Hands for his effort the entire weekend," said Kozlowski.
 
After dropping his first set in a tiebreaker, Thorold came back to win the final two sets 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 to give Drake the decisive point and earn his first career match-clinching victory.

"As other courts were playing out and finishing I didn't think I'd even get to finish the match but then some courts took some tough loses and I knew I'd have to step my game up and get the win. The team got behind me and I managed to come back and take the win. I couldn't have done it without the rest of the team," said Thorold.
 
The Bulldogs head to in-state rivals Iowa on Friday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m.
 
Drake 4, Rice 3
Jan 29, 2017 at Austin, Texas (Weller Indoor) 

Singles competition

1. #73 Gillespie, Vinny (DU) def. Tommy Bennett (RICE) 6-4, 6-2

2. Jamie Malik (RICE) def. MacGeoch, Calum (DU) 7-5, 6-4

3. Jake Hansen (RICE) def. Stride, Ben (DU) 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5)

4. Thorold, Barnaby (DU) def. Eric Rutledge (RICE) 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-4

5. Hands, Tom (DU) def. David Warren (RICE) 6-4, 7-6 (7-2)

6. Emanuel Llamas (RICE) def. Wood, Ben (DU) 6-7, 6-2, 6-4

 

Doubles competition

1. David Warren/Tommy Bennett (RICE) def. Gillespie, Vinny/MacGeoch, Calum (DU) 6-1

2. Stride, Ben/Wood, Ben (DU) def. Oscar Janglin/Emanuel Llamas (RICE) 7-5

3. Hands, Tom/Thorold, Barnaby (DU) def. Eric Rutledge/Jake Hansen (RICE) 7-5

 

Match Notes

Drake 3-1

Rice 4-3

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (1,5,2,6,3,4)

ITA Kick-Off Weekend

Consolation Match

T-3:30