Drake Women’s tennis added another win to their record after a Sunday, Feb. 27 dual match against Northern Illinois.
The Bulldogs competed against the Huskies at the Roger Knapp Center on campus. Drake took to the courts at 10 a.m. to start the dual match, beginning with the doubles one team.
The doubles two team for the Bulldogs consisted of junior Rebecca Ehn and sophomore Ines Stephani. They got off to a quick start in their doubles set and kept sailing through the whole set to get a 6-0 win.
First-year Mille Haagensen and sophomore Darinka Stepan also got off to a quick start in their match, getting a quick 6-1 win over the Huskies and clinching the doubles point for the Bulldogs.
At doubles one, senior Daria Walczak and senior Liza Petushkova also got a win. The Bulldogs headed into the singles matches with a 1-0 lead.
Stepan was the first Drake athlete to get a singles point for Drake after winning her match 6-3,6-3, at singles five. At singles two, Stephani had a close first set, but was able to win it 6-4. Going into the second set, Stephani continued to battle but fell short and lost the second set 3-6. Heading into the third set, Stephani continued to battle to win the match. The third set was a 7-5 win for Stephani after coming back from being down 1-3 at the beginning of the set.“I really enjoyed being at home again. The home crowd definitely helped me get this win today and get a point for the team,” Stephani said.
After Stephani’s win, the Bulldogs pulled ahead in the match with the score being three for Drake and zero for the Huskies. Senior Kelsey Neville had a competitive match at singles six. Neville took the first set, but lost the next two competitive sets.
Haagensen also had a competitive singles match at the single four position. Haagensen won the first set and then lost a close second set and a close third set.
At singles one, Petushkova also had a three-set match. Petushkova had a quick first set, getting a nice lead and closing out the set at 6-2. Petushkova also had a close second set that went to a tiebreaker where Petushkova fell short by two points in the second set. She continued to fight in the third set and was able to get a 7-5 win, allowing the Bulldogs to get another point.
With the Bulldogs leading 4-2, Walczak won the last match at three singles. Walczak had a close first set, but a few points did not go her way and she ended up losing the first set 5-7. Walczak had a quick comeback in the second set, winning it 6-2. Using that momentum Walczak battled her way through the third set to win it 6-3 and got another point for Drake.
“Even though I lost the first set, I just kept playing my game and was able to win the next two sets and get another point for the team,” Walczak said. “I’m proud that we were able to get another team win.”
Since that match against NIU, Drake has won their last two games. Winning 5-0 against UNI on Friday, March 4 and 6-1 against Milwaukee on Saturday, March 5. The Bulldogs are back in action this Saturday, March 12 at 5 p.m. against Wisconsin at the Roger Knapp Center.
