FEBRUARY 25, 2012
DES MOINES, Iowa - Battling
down to the wire, the Drake women's tennis team suffered its first loss in over
a month dropping a 6-1 decision against Kansas on Saturday (Feb. 25) at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center. The setback snapped the Bulldogs'
10-match winning streak.
The two sides split the opening two doubles contests at the Nos. 1 and 3
courts, respectively, to set the stage for a winner-take-all event at No. 2
The Jayhawks' duo of Paulina Los and Monica Pezzotti appeared well on
their way to clinching the doubles point before the Drake duo of senior Jessica Aguilera (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) and sophomore
Klavdija Rebol (Kranj,
Slovenia) mounted a furious comeback.
Kansas held 6-2 lead before the Bulldogs rolled off three unanswered
tallies to cut the deficit to 6-5.
The Jayhawks then extended the margin to within one point of victory at
7-5.
Aguilera and Rebol battled back to 7-6 before staving off several match
points to avoid defeat and square the contest at seven. In a back-and-forth next game, the
Jayhawks outlasted Drake to retake the lead for good en route to securing the
doubles point.
Junior Manca Krizman (Solkan,
Slovenia) evened the affair at one in singles action downing Los at No. 2, 6-1,
6-4. The win was her 16th straight in singles play.
The remaining five contests all went in favor of Kansas, although the final
scores didn't belie how close each match proved to be, with the Bulldogs
grinding out every point.
With her doubles victory, senior Gabriela Demos (Chesterfield, Mo.) moved past former teammate Veronika Leszayova
(2005-09) for most combined wins at Drake since the 2006-07 campaign with 120.
On the strength of her singles triumph earlier in the day against Upper
Iowa, Aguilera cracked the top-10 at Drake since 1990 in career singles wins
(67).
The Bulldogs now have two weeks off before resuming competition on March
9 hosting Iowa State in Drake's Breast Cancer Awareness Night at the Roger
Knapp Tennis Center.
KANSAS (6-0) DEF. DRAKE (11-2), 6-1
FEBRUARY 25, 2012 • ROGER KNAPP
TENNIS CENTER
SINGLES
No. 1 Monica Pezzotti (KU) def. Klavdija Rebol (DU), 6-2, 6-4
No. 2 Manca Krizman (DU) def. Paulina Los (KU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 Maria Belen Luduena (KU) def. Gabriela Demos (DU), 7-6 (1), 6-3
No. 4 Dylan Windom (KU) def. Nell Boyd (DU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
No. 5 Claire Dreyer (KU) def. Jessica Aguilera (DU), 7-5, 6-3
No. 6 Victoria Khanevskaya (KU) def. Ali Patterson (DU), 6-2, 6-4
ORDER OF FINISH:
(2,6,1,4,5,3)
DOUBLES:
No. 1 Demos/Krizman (DU) def. Luduena/Windom (KU), 8-3
No. 2 Los/Pezzotti (KU) def. Aguilera/Rebol (DU), 9-7
No. 3 Dreyer/Khanevskaya (KU) def. Amanda Aragon/Boyd (DU), 8-2
ORDER OF FINISH:
(1,3,2)
