DeKalb, Ill. - The Western Michigan men's tennis team took the doubles point to open but was unable to overcome a deep Drake squad as the Bulldogs defeated the Broncos 5-2 in DeKalb on Saturday. The loss snaps the Broncos' five-match winning streak and drops them to 11-9 on the season.

The Broncos began the match as they had the previous four, taking the doubles point two matches to one.  The combination of Casey Cullen and Pablo Olivarez earned an 8-6 victory in the No. 2 doubles match, and the pairing of Kazuya Komada and Ross VanderPloeg took the No. 3 doubles match by an identical score.  For Cullen, it was his 107th career doubles victory, putting him just one behind R.J. Dunkle for the career lead at WMU.

Despite this momentum, the Broncos were unable to capitalize and ultimately dropped five of the six singles matches.  The lone win of the day came from VanderPloeg, who overcame a 1-0 hole to win 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

DRAKE (14-2) DEF. WESTERN MICHIGAN (11-9), 5-2
APRIL 2, 2011 • ROCKFORD, ILL.

SINGLES:
No. 1 Mauricio Ballivian (DU) def. Michael Calderone (WMU), 6-4, 7-6 (1)
No. 2 James McKie (DU) def. Kazuya Komada (WSU), 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 Anis Ghorbel (DU) def. Pablo Olivarez (WMU), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
No. 4 Jean Erasmus (DU) def. Casey Cullen (WMU), 6-3, 4-6, 10-8
No. 5 Robin Goodman (DU) def. Brad Noel (WMU), 6-1, 6-1
No. 6 Ross VanderPloeg (WMU) def. Cesar Bracho (DU), 0-6, 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 5,2,1,3,4,6

DOUBLES:
No. 1 Ballivian/Ghorbel (DU) def. Calderone/Thomas Calderone (WMU), 8-2
No. 2 Cullen/Olivarez (WMU) def. Erasmus/McKie (DU), 8-6
No. 3 Komada/VanderPloeg (WMU) def. Bracho/Goodman (DU), 8-6
Order of finish: 1,3,2