DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's team opened the 2016 fall season on Friday by hosting the Drake Invitational at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
Drake was nearly perfect on the day with all but one Bulldog advancing to the winner bracket in singles and with both doubles teams advancing to the semifinals.
In the Fight "A" doubles bracket,
Tess Herder and
Kenya Williams began their day with a strong 8-2 victory over Nebraska-Omaha's Emily Behling and Rylee Tucker before topping South Dakota's Ellie Burns and Barbora Kollarova, 8-6 to advance to the semifinals.
Summer Brills and
Joely Lomas started their day with a solid 8-2 victory over Northern Colorado's Remi Immler and Beth Coton and then completed a 8-4 win over South Dakota's Nanette Nylund and Anastasia Bondarenko.
In singles, Herder and Brills each advanced to the quarterfinals in the Flight "A" bracket. Herder rolled past UNO's Janelle Wilson, 6-4, 6-0, while Brills came back from being down a set to defeat Creighton's Michaela Henne 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. Lomas cruised past Upper Iowa's Isabella Sella 6-1, 6-2 to move on to the quarterfinals in Flight "B". Williams came away with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Creighton's Ashley Monaco in Flight "C".
Mela Jaglarz was the Bulldogs' only setback of the day as she fell to UNI's Savanna Hunt 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in Flight "D".
The second day of the Drake Invitational will get underway on Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.
