DES MOINES, Iowa -- It came down to the final singles match, but ultimately the Western Michigan men's tennis team fell on the road to No. 39 Drake 4-3. The Broncos drop to 4-3 overall while the Bulldogs improve to 3-3 this season.
The Bulldogs took the first doubles match of the day in the No. 1 spot, but the duos of Matt Hamilton/Maik Steiner (No. 2) and Jefta Kecic/Jimmy Beckwith came back to win the next two matches and give the Broncos a 1-0 lead. Hamilton/Steiner improve to 15-3 this season, leading the team in wins while also move to 3-0 this spring.
In singles, WMU trailed 2-1 after losing the first two singles matches, but Ruben Greiner (No. 5) and Matej Svjetlicic (No. 4) won the next two giving the Broncos a 3-2 advantage. After the Bulldogs claimed the No. 3 singles match to make it 3-3, it came down to the No. 1 spot between the Broncos sophomore Kecic and the Bulldogs Ben Lott. Lott took the first set 7-6 but Kecic battled back to take the second 6-4 but couldn't take the final set as Lott won the match clincher 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 to give the Bulldogs the win.
Svjetlicic improved to 20-5 this season, leading the team in wins while Greiner moved to 10-4 and 6-0 this dual match season.
The Broncos return to action next weekend as they host Detroit and Wayne State on Sunday, Feb. 14 with the match against the Titans slated for Noon and the Warriors match scheduled for 5 p.m.
Singles Results
No. 1 Ben Lott (Drake) def. Jefta Kecic (WMU), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (8)
No. 2 Bayo Philips (Drake) def. Maik Steiner (WMU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 3 Vinny Gillespie (Drake) def. Matt Hamilton (WMU), 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
No. 4 Matej Svjetlicic (WMU) def. Calum MacGeoch (Drake), 7-5, 7-5
No. 5 Ruben Greiner (WMU) def. Ben Clark (Drake), 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Tom Hands (Drake) def. Daniel Loebel (WMU), 7-5, 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 6, 5, 4, 3, 1
Doubles Results
No. 1 Philips/Gillespie (Drake) def. Greiner/Loebel (WMU), 6-2
No. 2 Hamilton/Steiner (WMU) def. Lott/MacGeoch (Drake), 7-6 (2)
No. 3 Kecic/Jimmy Beckwith (WMU) def. Clark/Wood (Drake), 7-6 5)
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
