The Drake men’s tennis team competed in a double header this past Sunday, Feb. 10 at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. The Bulldogs first took to the courts to compete against Cornell University.
Against Cornell, the Bulldogs opened with a quick 6-1 win at doubles three with Evan Fragistas and Jeremy Schifirs. The doubles two team won their match 6-3, thus clinching the doubles point for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs went into their singles matches with a 1-0 lead over Cornell, a comfortable spot to be in. Things got off to a rough start in singles when Schifirs lost his match 4-6, 1-6 at singles one.
Fragistas also lost after a tough three set battle at singles two (4-6, 6-4, 3-6). At singles three for Drake was Oliver Johansson, who lost a close three set battle as well.
Olle Sonesson Lidholt lost the first set of his match 2-6, but came back to win the second set 6-3, and eventually went on to lose 3-6 at the singles four position. Reid Jarvis won this singles match in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 at the singles five position. At singles six, Markus Boin won his match 6-2, 6-1.
The Bulldogs ultimately fell to Cornell with an overall score of 4-3. Despite the loss, the team quickly bounced back and won against Washburn University later in the afternoon.
At doubles one for Drake in the afternoon matchup was Jarvis and Matt Clegg. At doubles two were Fragistas and Johansson, and at doubles three were Bolin and Sonesson Lidholt. Drake clinched the doubles point after securing wins from doubles one and doubles three.
At singles, Fragistas opened the matchup with a tough three set match loss. Shortly following the loss, singles two with Johansson secured a win and a singles point for Drake. Sonesson Lidholt won his matchup at singles three, followed by a singles four win by Jarvis. Two more wins followed at singles five and singles six, allowing Drake to finish out the day with a 6-1 win over Washburn.
Bolin took a moment following the matchup to express pleasure with how the team played facing an early deficit.
“I’m proud of how the team competed today, and I’m glad we were able to come back later in the afternoon to get a team win,” Bolin said.
Matic was equally happy with the hard fight the team had to put in to get the win.
“I think the team fought hard throughout both matches and it was great to be able to get a win today,” Matic said.
Following the matches played on Sunday, the men’s tennis team traveled to Nebraska to compete against the Huskers., where the Bulldogs lost 4-2.
The Bulldogs’ next matchup will be at Michigan State on Feb. 15.