DRAKE Tennis faces Michigan in NCAA [Archive]

tennis08tarheels

05-11-2007, 11:56 PM

Good job by the Drakies, it was much closer than the 4-0 score indicated.

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. — One of the most memorable campaigns in Drake men's tennis history came to an end Friday (May 11) as No. 21 Michigan registered a 4-0 triumph over the Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA Championships at the Atkins Tennis Center.

The loss snapped Drake's 22-match winning streak and wrapped up a remarkable campaign at 23-3, while Michigan improved to 20-6.

The score will go down in the record books as a 4-0 win by the Wolverines, but the dual proved to be far from the mismatch the final tally indicated. Drake led a pair of matches in the third set and was ahead in the second set at No. 1 when play was halted after a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory by George Navas against Drake sophomore Ivan Mendoza (Wellington, New Zealand) at No. 6 singles.

"We had the momentum in the match but we didn't get it done at the bottom of the line-up," Drake head coach Chase Hodges said. "It was a great experience but the guys leave this match knowing that there is a very small difference between us and a top-20 team. We're right there and if we straightened a few things here and there we could have pulled the match out."

The Bulldogs more than held their own in doubles action but weren't able to overcome a talented Michigan doubles' line-up as the Wolverines claimed wins at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions to secure the doubles point.

Jumping to a 2-0 advantage, the No. 2 Michigan doubles tandem of Ryan Heller and Andrew Mazlin controlled the pace en route to an 8-4 decision over Drake senior Sergi Vila (Barcelona, Spain) and sophomore Ivan Mendoza (Wellington, New Zealand). The Drake tandem cut the deficit to 3-2 but the Wolverines won four of the next five games to provide Michigan with the victory.

The action on the other two courts proved to be much tighter as neither side gained more than a two-game lead in either tilt.

At No. 3 doubles, Drake's freshmen duo of Bokang Setshogo (Gaborone, Botswana) and Guilherme Marsiglia (Porto Alegre, Brazil) took the first game but dropped the next three tilts to Navas and Mike Sroczynski to fall behind 3-1. The Bulldog duo fought back to pull within one, 6-5 and 7-6, but the Wolverines won the deciding game to claim the doubles point.

Although the results will not go down in the record books, a tightly fought battle erupted on court one between Drake junior Dalibor Pavic (Adelaide, Australia) and sophomore Maor Zirkin (Kibutz Hazor, Israel) and Michigan's Brian Hung and Matko Maravic. The Wolverine duo, ranked 10th in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings, took the opening game but the two sides followed suit by trading points before the match was abandoned with Michigan leading 6-5.

The Wolverines expanded the lead to 3-0 by garnering victories at the fourth and fifth singles slots.

Heller earned the second point in the match by registering a 6-2, 6-0 triumph against Marsiglia at No. 4. Heller grabbed 3-0 leads in both sets and didn't look back in posting the victory..

Sroczynski followed suit with a 6-3, 6-1 triumph over Setshogo at the fifth singles position. The first set proved to be tight as the score stood at 4-3 before Sroczynski closed out the frame winning the final three games to earn the decision.

The attention then turned to the remaining four courts where each set seemingly came down to the wire.

The momentum seemingly was swinging in Drake's favor as the Bulldogs'were making a strike at the top three singles holes.

After dropping the first set to 40th-rated Hung in tiebreaker, 7-6 (4), Zirkin rallied to hold a 5-4 advantage in the second set when the contest was halted.

The drama was thick at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions as both stood in the decisive third sets with the Bulldogs on the verge of victories in both.

Falling in the first set by a count of 6-4 to Heller, Pavic posted a 6-2 second-set victory to force a winner-take-all third frame. Pavic pushed the pace of the match in the third set and led 4-2 as the sixth singles tilt concluded.

In his final match as a Bulldog, Vila was impressive at No. 2 singles as he took the initial set against 50th-ranked Maravic. The Wolverine though battled back to square the match at one set apiece with a 6-1 second-set decision.

When the final ball had been tossed, Vila was in possession of a 4-1 advantage in the final frame. Vila finished his illustrious Drake career in second place all-time with 194 combined singles/doubles victories.

No. 21 Michigan def. No. 52 Drake, 4-0
May 11, 2007
Champaign, Ill. 2007 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship
Records: Drake (23-3), Michigan (20-6)

Singles
No. 1 Maor Zirkin (DU) vs. No. 40 Brian Hung (UM), 6-7 (4), 5-4, unfinished
No. 2 Sergi Vila (DU) vs. No. 50 Matko Maravic (UM), 6-3, 1-6, 4-1 unfinished
No. 3 Dalibor Pavic (DU) vs. Andrew Mazlin (UM), 4-6, 6-2, 4-2 unfinished
No. 4 Ryan Heller (UM) def. Guilherme Marsiglia (DU), 6-2, 6-0
No. 5 Mike Sroczynski (UM)? def. Bokang Setshogo (DU), 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 George Navas (UM) def. Ivan Mendoza (DU), 7-6 (4), 6-3

Doubles
No. 1 Zirkin/Pavic (DU) vs. No. 10 Hung/Maravic (UM), 5-6, Michigan leading when match called.
No. 2 Heller/Mazlin (UM) def. Vila/Mendoza (DU), 8-4
No. 3 Navas/Sroczynski (UM) def. Setshogo/Marsiglia (DU), 8-6