Story by Taylor Soule

The Drake women’s tennis team went 1-1 on Saturday at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. The Bulldogs opened a busy weekend with a 6-1 win over Central Arkansas, thanks to a pair of early doubles victories.

At the No. 1 doubles position, the duo of junior Klavdija Rebol and freshman Jordan Eggleston recorded an 8-2 decision over Krizia Buck and Allison Murphy.

The No. 2 pair of freshmen Maddie Johnson and Lea Kozulic clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 win against Simona Horsikyan and Sasha Ruocco.

The early momentum translated into a near sweep of singles, as Drake dropped just one singles match.

Central Arkansas forced third sets at the No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots, but the Bulldogs maintained composure.

At No. 1, Rebol registered a 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-3 decision over Simona Horsikyan. At No. 2, Kozulic rallied to a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win versus Murphy.

Freshman Evy Van Genechten dispatched Kristina Horsikyan at the No. 3 slot, 6-4, 7-5. The Bulldogs’ lone singles loss came at No. 4, where Eggleston narrowly lost to Buck, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 11-9.

Drake sealed the 6-1 victory with convincing losses at the No. 5 and No. 6 positions. At No. 5, Johnson routed Ruocco, 6-1, 6-0. At No. 6, sophomore Nell Boyd beat Anna Buyukyan, 6-2, 6-5.

A dangerous Northern Illinois squad edged the Bulldogs 4-3 just hours later on Saturday.

The Huskies swept doubles with three 8-6 wins to open with a 1-0 lead. Singles proved a back-and-forth affair, though, as Drake won three matches and dropped three.

At the No. 1 spot, Nelle Youel defeated Rebol, 6-2, 6-1. Central Arkansas’s Haley Dekkinga rallied at No. 2 to beat Kozulic, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Van Genechten registered a win at No. 3 with a 6-2, 6-2 ledger over Arantza De La Torre. At No. 4, Mary Malkin defeated Eggleston, 6-3, 6-2.

Johnson and Boyd registered straight-sets wins at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.

The Bulldogs are back in action against in-state rival Iowa State at 6 p.m. on Friday in Ames.