Both the men’s and women’s Drake tennis teams were on the road to start the last month of games.
The women’s team traveled to Valparaiso, Indiana, to compete against Valparaiso University. The Bulldogs took to the courts on Saturday, April 2 at 3 p.m.
The women were able to get the doubles point after picking up wins from doubles two and three courts. Heading into the singles matches, the Bulldogs had a 1-0 lead over Valparaiso.
Senior Liza Petushkova was the first Bulldog to get a singles point for Drake after getting a quick 6-2, 6-3 win. Sophomore Darinka Stepan picked up the next point after getting a win at the singles five position. First-year Mille Haagensen clinched the game for Drake after winning her match 6-4, 6-1. The team now has an overall record of 10-6 with a three game win streak.
“We came out with great energy from the beginning, which helped us get the doubles point,” Haagensen said. “We just used that momentum in singles to get the other three points that we needed to be able to get a team win.”
Drake’s men’s tennis team had two away matches at the beginning of April. First, the Bulldogs took on Illinois State on Friday, April 1. They were able to get the doubles point against the Redbirds after a win from doubles two and three courts.
At doubles two, redshirt sophomore Matija Matic and redshirt junior Evan Fragistas won their set with a score of 6-3. At doubles three, redshirt sophomore Reid Jarvis and junior Matt Clegg won their set 7-6(2). Heading into the singles matches, Drake got five out of the six singles points available after picking up wins from singles positions two through six.
Fragistas won his match 6-2, 6-3. Despite dropping a close first set, 5-7, redshirt sophomore Oliver Johansson won his match 6-3, 6-2. Jarvis got a 7-5, 6-4 win at singles four. Clegg won his match 7-6, 7-5 at singles five.
Sophomore Markus Bolin got a win for Drake at the singles six position after winning his match 6-2, 7-6(5).
The Bulldogs took to the courts again the next day to play the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Drake swept Omaha 7-0 and improved their conference record to 3-0.
Drake was able to get the doubles point and all six singles points. At singles one, Matic won his match in straight sets. At singles two, sophomore Jeremy Schifris won his match in a well-fought three set match. Schifris won the first set 6-2, lost the second set 1-6 and bounced back to win the third set 6-3.
At singles three, Fragistas won his match 6-1, 6-4. Johansson played at the singles four spot and got an easy 6-4, 6-1 win.
Jarvis got a quick 6-2, 6-1 win at singles five, and Bolin was able to win his match in straight sets at six singles.
“I think we competed well both days,” Matic said. “We got off to a good start in both matches after getting the doubles point and were able to get some quick singles wins to help the team score.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will return home to compete against conference schools. The men will play against Creighton University on Saturday, April 9 at 3 p.m. The women will take on Illinois State University also on Saturday, April 9 at 11 a.m.
