The No. 48 Pioneers tennis team snapped Drake’s 47-match streak this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa, defeating them 4-3.
With the victory this weekend, the DU men improved to a 3-2 record overall.
Early in the day, defeat seemed almost imminent as the Pioneers trailed three sets to none (0-3) after dropping all of their doubles matches. However, Denver rallied to manage a victory after four straight singles victories signifying the comeback.
Junior David Simson led the Denver rally with the first Pioneer victory, 6-2, 6-4 over Drake’s Evgeny Silitski. Freshman Johan Gunnarsso continued the rally as he won a three-set nail biter.
Senior Benny Althaus then won his match in a hard fought 7-6, 7-6 victory. Finally, Yannick Weihs won the match with a three set victory to cap the Denver comeback on Saturday.
Denver also won Sunday in a tough battle against No. 59 Iowa. Althaus won a three-set match to finish the competition.
“To come back after yesterday’s emotional win and do it again today was great,” head coach Danny Westerman said. “I was hoping we would not have a let down after yesterday’s win, and we did not start the match off well. But the guys responded very well again in singles.”
This win marks Denver’s 4-2 record. For the second straight set of matches Denver’s doubles teams have been swept in competition.
But, the Denver tennis team seems on the right track as they have won four of their first six matches this new season.
Denver will take on New Mexico at the Meadow Creek tennis club at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
The No. 40-ranked women’s tennis team posted its second consecutive sweep against Texas Tech at the Air Force Academy with a 7-0 win. The Pioneers are now 3-3 overall.
Denver took a quick 1-0 lead with a doubles sweep. Senior Mallory Woelker and junior Julia Bauregger won 8-7 at No. 1.
Senior Kyla Iwinski and junior Ute Schnoy dominated 8-0 at No. 2, and senior Annette Aksdal and sophomore Bhavani Tirumurti took the win at No. 3 with a score of 8-2. Voelker, Aksdal, Schnoy, Bauregger, Iwinski and Tirumurtyi all posted wins in singles.
The Pioneers will take on No. 35 Virginia Commonwealth University on Saturday and Penn State on Sunday at University Park, Pa.
