Drake women’s tennis took on the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regionals in Salt Water, Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State University.
Drake started the competition on Thursday, Oct. 13, with the qualifying singles draw and the first round of the main draw doubles.
Five players from Drake started the tournament off in the qualifying draw. Sophomore Millie Haagensen was the third seed for the qualifying draw, so she was able to get a bye for the first round of qualifiers.
Senior Rebecca Ehn won her first round of qualifying against Bradley 6-0, 6-0. First-year Elizabete Klavinska won her first round of qualifying against Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, 6-4,6-1. First-year Oriana Parkins-Godwin won her first round of qualifying against Arkansas State University 6-2,6-1. Junior Darinka Stepan won her first-round match of qualifying 6-2,6-3 against the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Heading into the second round of qualifying, all five Drake players took to the courts, ready to compete for the spot in the main draw.
Haagensen won her round against North Dakota in straight sets. Stepan won her second round against the University of South Dakota. Klavinska also won her second round against the University of Nebraska Omaha. Haagensen, Klavinska, Stephani and Stepan all advanced to the singles main draw.
The first round of doubles was also played on the first day of the competition. Ines Stephani and Rebecca Ehn picked up a win against the University of South Dakota.
Stepan, Haagensen, Parkins-Godwin and Klavinska all lost their first rounds of doubles to conclude the first day of competition.
The second day of the tournaments started with doubles. Stephani and Ehn won their doubles match against North Dakota to advance in the main draw.
Stepan and Haagensen won their first match in the back draw against Missouri State. Stephani won her first round of singles in the main draw against Bradley, 7-6, 7-6.
Haagensen also advanced in the main draw after a straight set win against University of Iowa.
The third day of the competition started with doubles, and Stephani and Ehn were in the round of 16 for the main draw and competed against the University of Arkansas. The two fell short of advancing to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Following the tournament, Ehn commented on her performance over the weekend.
“I enjoyed being out on the court competing for Drake, as well as picking up some main draw wins with Ines in doubles,” said Ehn.
Stepan and Haagensen won their second round of the back draw against Bradley University in a close 8-7 match. Stepan and Haagensen then got a walk over in their quarter final match against Bradley University. Stepan and Haagensen had to pull out of the tournament and were not able to continue playing in the back draw.
Haagensen took a moment after the tournament to speak on the team’s performance over the weekend.
“I thought overall we had a great weekend as a team, everyone was able to win a match and we got some great practice in,” Haagensen said.
Overall, the Bulldogs picked up nine singles wins and four doubles wins in the ITA regional tournament.
Up next for the Bulldogs is the Bulldog Cup, which will be played at Drake on Oct. 28.
