DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 40-ranked University of Denver men's tennis team (18-0, 2-0 Summit) continues its undefeated start to 2024 season with a 5-2 win at Drake on Friday.
 
Denver won its second Summit League dual in as many matches to keep DU as the only undefeated Division I team in the country.
 
Doubles:
For the 11^th-meet in a row, Denver won the doubles point after splitting the first two matches within minutes of each other. DU's No. 2 team of graduate student Marvin Schaber and junior Daniel Sancho Arbizu got the Pioneers halfway to the point with a convincing 6-2 win, but the Bulldogs drew it level moments later with its own 6-2 scoreline. The point came down to the No. 1 match with senior Nicolas Herrero Cuesta and sophomore Raffaello Papajcik winning their second match as partners after teaming up for the first time last week, rallying from a 0-3 deficit to begin the match.­­
 
Singles:
Sancho Arbizu claimed the first singles point of the day, with a 6-3 first set before closing out the match with a bagel in the second.
 
Herrero Cuesta put Denver up 3-0 after dropping just four games at No. 1 singles, breaking to begin the first set before winning five of the next six games for a 6-1 win. In the second set, he took a 3-1 lead, which proved to be the only break needed to seal the victory.
 
Schaber clinched the dual for Denver in a second-set tiebreak at No. 2 singles. He first broke in the final game of the first set to win it, 6-4, before the second set stayed on serve all the way until the breaker.
 
Denver added a fifth point with a win from graduate student Anish Sriniketh in the No. 5 slot. After beginning the match with a bagel in the first set, he jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second. Drake's Markus Bolin began to mount a comeback before Sriniketh served it out at 6-3.
 
Drake claimed the final two points of the dual with wins at Nos. 4 and 6 singles.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team continues Summit League play with a trip to Omaha on Sunday, April 7.
 
Denver's Home for College Sports
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Men's Tennis on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_MTennis on Twitter
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_MTennis on Instagram