Photo: Connor McCourtney

Men
Consider the 5-2 loss to No. 16 Minnesota ancient history. The Bulldogs showed no signs of lost confidence as they stormed to a perfect 7-0 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles last Saturday at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. The win kept the squad perfect at home and moved its record to 7-2 on the season.

“We didn’t spend this past week holding our heads and feeling sorry for ourselves about the Minnesota match,” head coach Evan Austin said. “We just came back and worked really hard.”

The determination of the last week came through in the matches, as the Bulldogs stormed out of the gate immediately in doubles play. A week earlier Austin said he needed to see more urgency out of his doubles teams, and that was exactly what happened today.

Senior Mauricio Ballivian and sophomore Anis Ghorbel teamed up once again at the top doubles spot, and the two looked unstoppable. The duo never faltered en route to a perfect 8-0 victory over Jose Munoz and Jonathan Schwerin of Marquette.

Unfortunately, on the next court the Bulldogs were struggling. Sophomore Ryan Drake and freshman Robin Goodman couldn’t find momentum against the Marquette pairing of Jose Crowley and Dan Mamalat. Drake and Goodman only managed to capture two games as they lost 8-2. With both teams tied in their quest for the doubles point, the lone doubles point relied on the third doubles slot.

Sophomores Jean Erasmus and James McKie held a 6-4 advantage over their Marquette opponents after Drake and Goodman lost their match at second doubles, and they were able to convincingly capture the two needed games to post an 8-5 victory and to go up 1-0 in the dual-match.

“When we go up 1-0 on teams after the doubles point, it will be tough for them to come back because of our depth at singles,” Austin said.

The depth of the Bulldogs singles lineup was on full display, as each Drake player won his match in straight sets.

Goodman made up for his loss in doubles with a decisive 6-1, 6-1 victory over Marquette’s Otavio Perim. McKie showed he was just as strong with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Munoz. The match was clinched in the Bulldogs’ favor by junior Jonathan Hadash as he defeated Thibault Troude 6-3, 6-3.

Despite already claiming victory, the Bulldogs showed no signs of slowing up, as Erasmus won 6-3, 6-4 to make it 5-0. Ballivian followed suit with another 6-3, 6-4 victory. Ghorbel made it a sweep at all singles matches with a 7-5, 6-3 win.

“I think that was our most complete match of the year so far,” Austin said.

The Bulldogs played the Western Illinois Leathernecks yesterday and The Times-Delphic will have a complete report on that match in the next issue.

Women
The Drake women’s tennis team had its five-game winning streak snapped by Iowa State last Friday night, as the Cyclones dealt the Bulldogs a 7-0 setback in front of the biggest crowd of the season at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.

The Bulldogs came out battling in doubles, but they couldn’t seem to find any ways to hurt Iowa State. Drake dropped the doubles point after being swept in all three matches.

The first Drake duo to fall was junior Amanda Aragon and senior Jessica Labarte, as they suffered an 8-3 setback. The next match pitted junior Jess Aguilera and sophomore Manca Krizman against Tessa Lang and Maria Macedo of Iowa State.

The Cyclones captured the set 8-4 and took a 1-0 lead with the doubles point. The closest match was at second doubles, as junior Earlynn Lauer and freshman Klavdija Rebol battled the Cyclone squad of Simona Cacciuttolo and Erin Karonis into a tiebreaker to decide the set. The Bulldogs fell short, however, garnering only two points in the tiebreaker.

The Bulldogs’ singles lineup saw a drastic change, as junior Gabby Demos, who clinched the previous match for the Bulldogs, a win over North Dakota, was out due to injury. Krizman still reprised her role at the top spot, but couldn’t maintain momentum long enough to win, as she lost 3-6, 4-6.

Rebol moved up to fill in Demos’ spot at second singles, and she fought valiantly to take the match to a third set after she won the first set in a tiebreaker. Unfortunately for the Drake freshman, she dropped the last two sets 1-6, 2-6. Like Rebol, Aguilera battled into a third set but was unable to claim the victory. Labarte, Patterson and Aragon all suffered straight-set losses against a very deep singles lineup for the Cyclones.

The Bulldogs played Air Force yesterday afternoon. The Times-Delphic will have complete coverage of that match in the next issue.