Tennis cruises, rowing struggles in Kansas
Story by Austin Cannon
Women’s Tennis
In its final tune-up before conference play, the Drake women’s tennis team cruised past a shorthanded Upper Iowa team, 7-0, on Saturday.
Upper Iowa had only five available players, giving Drake an automatic victory in the No. 6 singles position.
Needing only one doubles victory, the Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead when sophomores Mariel Ante and Jordan Eggleston outmuscled Victoria Kulbokas and Iris Verweij, 8-4.
Maddie Johnson and Lea Kozulic also won their match, beating Kelly Jachymowski and Saki Kawabata, 8-4.
Drake kept rolling in the singles phase of the contest, outclassing the Peacocks.
In the five matches, the Bulldogs outscored Upper Iowa 60 games to six.
Kozulic began singles play efficiently, knocking off Laura Alverez, 6-0, 6-0.
Boyd provided the second shutout in a row, gliding past Jackymowski, 6-0, 6-0, on court No. 3.
With victory already in hand, Eggleston continued the win parade by besting Kulbokas, 6-1, 6-1, at the No. 4 spot.
Rebol was able to notch a long-awaited win on court No. 1. She took down Kowabata in impressive fashion, 6-0, 6-1.
It marked her first win since March 1 when she beat Colorado State’s Natalie Heffron, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3).
Ante completed the sweep. She dispatched Verweij, 6-2, 6-1. It was her first singles win in the last four matches.
The Bulldogs began their conference season yesterday against UNI.
Rowing
The Drake rowing team competed at the Kansas Invitational on Saturday at Wyandotte County Lake Park in Kansas City, Kan.
The Bulldogs raced the SMU Mustangs in the morning and competed against Kansas and Kansas State in the afternoon session.
In the morning Varsity Four race, Drake finished behind SMU’s time of eight minutes and 1.1 seconds in 8:31.9.
It was the same story in the first Varsity Eight race. Drake finished in 7:12.6, 12 seconds behind the Mustangs.
In the second Varsity Eight, Drake fell even more behind, finishing a little over 18 seconds behind in 7:29.
The afternoon session brought races with the two Kansas schools.
Drake placed third in the Varsity Four race, behind the Wildcats and Jayhawks. The Bulldogs finished in a time of 8:31.7, nearly 20 seconds behind Kansas and almost 48 after K-State.
The Jayhawks continued to outpace Drake in both Varsity Eight races.
Drake finished second in both, 7:09.3 and 7:27.6.
