Men's Tennis Falls to Drake In Close Match

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Western Michigan men's tennis team gave Drake a battle Saturday afternoon, but the Broncos ultimately fell 4-3 on the road. The loss hands WMU its first loss of the season for a 3-1 overall record this spring.

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The Bulldogs pulled out to a 3-1 lead over the Broncos after sweeping the doubles point and winning in straight at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively.

The Brown and Gold evened the match at 3-3 with singles wins coming from junior Matej Svjetlicic at No. 6 and a pair of three-set wins from junior teammate Eric Olivarez at No. 5 and sophomore Jannik Opitz at No. 3.

With their wins Svjetlicic, Opitz and Olivarez all remain unbeaten on the season. Svjetlicic and Opitz improve to 4-0, while Olivarez is right behind them with a 3-0 record.

The match point came down to No. 4 between junior transfer Lenhard Haupt and Drake's Ben Clark. Haupt took the first set 6-4, but Clark came back to force a third set as he won the tiebreak 7-4, as Western Michigan dropped its first match of the season.

Western Michigan looks to rebound tomorrow with a match against Tennessee Tech in Des Moines, Iowa, starting at 11:00 a.m.

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Players Mentioned

Eric Olivarez: 5' 10"; Junior

Jannik Opitz: 6' 4"; Sophomore

Matej Svjetlicic: 6' 1"; Junior

Lenhard Haupt: 6' 3"; Junior

Players Mentioned

Eric Olivarez
: 5' 10"; Junior

Jannik Opitz
: 6' 4"; Sophomore

Matej Svjetlicic
: 6' 1"; Junior

Lenhard Haupt
: 6' 3"; Junior