The Drake men’s tennis doubles tandem of senior Robin Goodman (Cambridge, England) and junior Ravi Patel (London, England) culminated its run at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Central Regional on Monday (Oct. 21) with a doubles championship on the strength of an 8-5 triumph past Minnesota’s Mathieu Froment and Jack Hamburg.
The Bulldogs’ duo is believed to be the first Drake doubles squad to capture a regional title in program history. By virtue of their victory, Goodman and Patel have earned a berth into the United States Tennis Association/ITA National Indoor Championship at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. (Nov. 7-10).
Goodman and Patel fell behind Froment and Hamburg early in the match as the Golden Gopher duo held a 5-4 lead. Goodman and Patel staved off several key game points en route to breaking Minnesota’s serve before rattling off four unanswered tallies to clinch the match.
“I am so proud of these guys for battling through a very tough regional draw, which consisted of several All-Americans and last year’s defending champion, to capture the title,” Drake head coach Davidson Kozlowski commented. “This pair was unseeded and had a very challenging draw to the title. Not only did we walk away with Drake's first doubles regional championship in school history, but once again we showed everyone how hard this team competes.”
“Though our serves weren’t at the top the game, I thought we did a fantastic job of staying focused and taking care of the really important points,” stated Goodman. “This is a highlight for us and the Drake program and we are confident and ready to take it a step further at the ITA National Indoors in a few weeks.”
“I’m extremely happy to win the regional title and I’m looking forward to competing at the ITA National Indoors,” explained Patel.
In singles, sophomore Ben Lott (Newcastle, England) and junior Matt Frost (Cambridge, England) came up short in their respective bids to play for the singles championship each suffering semifinal setbacks.
Top-seeded and No. 44 ranked Dane Webb of Oklahoma registered a 7-5, 6-2 triumph over Lott.
Frost fell to another Sooner as third-seeded and No. 85 Axel Alvarez garnered a 6-3, 6-1 decision.
“We never get tired of having opposing coaches compliment out team on our fighting spirit and our will to win,” said Kozlowski. “We also showed that after last year's senior dominated team that we haven't missed a step. We aren't rebuilding, we reloaded, which is evident from having four singles players advance to the quarterfinals in singles.”
The Bulldogs conclude their fall campaign hosting the Missouri Valley Conference Individuals (Nov. 8-10) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
ITA CENTRAL REGIONAL
OCT. 21, 2013 • TULSA, OKLA.
SINGLES:
No. 44 Dane Webb (OKLA) def. Ben Lott (DU), 7-5, 6-2
No. 85 Axel Alvarez (OKLA) def. Matt Frost (DU), 6-3, 6-1
DOUBLES:
Goodman/Patel (DU) def. Mathieu Froment/Jack Hamburg (MINN), 8-5