DES MOINES, Iowa — Deciding to attend college in a different country can be frightening and exciting all at the same time. Being on a team almost entirely made up of international students makes that adjustment much easier.
"You have someone to rely on there too," said redshirt senior Matija Matic who's originally from Cyprus. "You know, you're not in this by yourself. You're in this together so I think that was very important for all of us."
Out of the ten athletes on their roster, eight are from other countries, including redshirt senior Oliver Johansson, who's from Sweden.
"That was a big part of why I also chose Drake," Johansson said. "You have guys that are kind of in a similar situation as yourself coming from overseas."
Having that in common is what helped form a tight bond among this year's seniors.
"Since we've been together for so long, some of us it's like, some days you don't want to see each other if that makes sense," Johansson said jokingly. "But we have a lot of fun and we're extremely close and I feel like if someone doesn't have their best day, we all know each other that well that it still like works."
They've been through a lot together, from adjusting to life in the United States to enduring the uncertainty of the pandemic. But they became a stronger team because of it, and it showed on the court.
"All those experiences really led us to bounce back the year after and like really get moving as a team and really achieving what we thought we could coming in as freshmen," Matic said.
Coming off of back-to-back Summit League tournament championships and NCAA tournament appearances, the Bulldogs have the honor of hosting this year's conference tournament, setting the stage for a potential storybook ending.
"To host it here in Des Moines in front of our fans, hopefully win it for like a third time in a row, and then be done with college tennis, I think that would be a fairy tale ending for this team," Matic said. "I think we deserve that."
Drake is off to a 3-0 start on the season and will host Old Dominion on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 11:00 a.m. at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.