DES MOINES, Iowa – Senior Eric Marbach (Naperville, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and sophomore Kristopher Ortega (Home Glen, Ill./Seton Home Study School) claimed a win against nationally-ranked opposition but the Northern Illinois University men's tennis team fell to Drake, 4-3, in its season opening match on Saturday afternoon. 

"Really pretty disappointed today," said NIU head coach Patrick Fisher. "We had so many chances to capitalize and we didn't, little details got us today. Drake is a top-30 program and while most think playing at 85 percent is great, we won't beat teams of this caliber (at 85 percent), we need to be 100 percent relentless from start-to-finish. Obviously with this result we need to do a better job staying focused over long periods of time because Tennessee Tech has been an NCAA tournament team the last three years and I'm curious to see how we respond tomorrow."

Marbach and Ortega topped Drake's 27th-ranked duo of Vinny Gillespie and Barny Thorold, 7-6, but the Bulldogs took the doubles points with victories in the other two matches. 

In singles, NIU won three, three-set matches as freshman David Pata (Bucharest, Romania) topped Bayo Philips, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, freshman Mikko Malinen (Malmo, Sweden) outlasted Ben Clark, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 and Marbach won a 10-point third set to better Thorold, 6-7, 7-5, 10-7. Drake won the matches at one, four and five however, all in straight-sets, as the Bulldogs edged the Huskies in the season opener. 

NIU will return to action on Sunday afternoon, January 20, when the Huskies face Tennessee Tech in Des Moines. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m. 

Drake 4, NIU 3

Singles
1. Vinny Gillespie (DU) def. Kristopher Ortega (NIU) 6-4, 6-2
2. Eric Marbach (NIU) def. Barny Thorold (DU) 6-7 (10-7), 7-5, 10-7
3. David Pata (NIU) def. Bayo Philips (DU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
4. Tom Hands (DU) def. Bor Schweiger Muzar (NIU) 6-2, 6-2
5. Calum MacGeoch (DU) def. Victor Spolidorio (NIU) 6-2, 7-6
6. Mikko Malinen (NIU) def. Ben Clark (DU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4

Doubles
1. Eric Marbach/Kristopher Ortega (NIU) def. Vinny Gillespie/Barny Thorold (DU) 7-6 (8-7)
2. Tom Hands/Bayo Philips (DU) def. Bor Schweiger Muzar/Erich Schuette (NIU) 6-4
3. Calum MacGeoch/Ben Clark (DU) def. David Pata/Shao-Yu Yu (NIU) 6-1