Drake women’s tennis team finds success in Bulldog Classic

Drake women’s tennis competed in their final tournament of the fall this past weekend at home in the Bulldog classic. 

There were three other teams that came to play in the tournament:  Creighton University, University of Nebraska-Omaha and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

Drake took the courts at 1 p.m. on Friday to play Creighton in singles. The lineup for Drake included Ines Stephani at one singles, Mille Haagensen at the singles two spot and Darinka Stepan at three singles. At five singles was Rebecca Ehn, with Oriana Parkins-Godwin at six singles. 

The Bulldogs won four out of the six singles matches. Stephani won her singles match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Stepan won her singles match also in straight sets with a 6-3, 7-6 win. Ehn was able to get her singles win, 6-4, 6-1. Finally, Parkins-Godwin cruised through her singles match getting a 6-3, 6-1 win.  

The second match on Friday was for the doubles point against Milwaukee. The Bulldogs failed to get the doubles point and headed into doubles down 0-1. 

On Saturday morning, the Bulldogs competed against Milwaukee. The Bulldogs took the courts in singles at 10 a.m.

 Stephani got the job done at number one singles with a 6-3, 6-1 win for Drake, and Haagensen got a straight set win over Milwaukee singles two players with a 6-2, 6-1 win. 

Stepan also had a straight set win at singles three garnering a third point for the Bulldogs with a 6-1, 6-4 win. 

At singles four, Klavinska cruised through her match after only dropping a game to win her match 6-1, 6-0.  

The second match of the day was doubles against Omaha. The Bulldogs took the courts and got all three doubles wins allowing them to have a 1-0 lead heading into the final day of the tournament. 

On the final day of the tournament, Drake started off with doubles against Creighton. Drake was able to win one of the three doubles matches. 

The Bulldogs finished the tournament off by winning four of the six singles matches against Omaha. 

In singles, Stephani cruised through her match, getting a 6-2, 6-2 win. Haagensen won her singles match in straight sets, getting a 6-2, 6-1 win. Stepan dropped one game in her match getting a 6-1, 6-4 win over Omaha, and Ehn won her match at singles four, 6-4, 6-1.  

The Bulldogs completed the tournament after beating both Creighton and Milwaukee 4-3 and beating Omaha 5-2. 

Following the tournament, Stephani reflected on the team’s performance at home, focusing on the consistently positive performance by Drake. 

“I thought the team competed well throughout the whole weekend,” Stephani said. “It was great to be able to compete here at home and getting some wins for Drake.”

 First-year Klavinska also commented on the tournament, citing the enjoyment she got from playing in the dual format. 

“I really enjoyed this weekend because we were able to play dual matches which is very similar to how our spring semester will look like with competing,” Klavinska said. “It was great to be able to compete with the team.”

The Bulldogs will take the courts again on Jan. 14 for their first match of the spring season.