DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's tennis team opens its 2017 fall season by hosting Drake Invitational Sept. 15-17 at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
Action kicks off on Friday at 10 a.m. before continuing through Saturday and Sunday with play beginning each day at 9 a.m.
The 10-team field includes Augustana (SD), Creighton, North Dakota, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska-Omaha, South Dakota and Upper Iowa.
Second-year head coach
Mai-Ly Tran returns all six players from a year ago including 2016 MVC Individual Flight 4 champion junior
Kenya Williams. Williams also won the Flight 2 Doubles MVC Individual title with senior
Tess Herder. Other returners include MVC All-Select senior
Summer Brills, senior
Mela Jaglarz, junior
Joely Lomas (Swansea, Wales) and sophomore
Alex Kozlowski.
The Bulldogs welcome two incoming freshman
Liza Petushkova and
Megan Webb. Petushkova was the 94
th ranked International Tennis Federation junior player in the world and boasted a top-15 ranking in Russia. Last year, Webb was the top ranked 18U singles player in England and boasts semifinal performances in the 2016 Winter National Tour Grade 2 doubles and the Great Britain National U16 Junior Championships.
Brills and Herder will highlight the Flight A singles draw for the Bulldogs, while Petushkova and Williams will be in Flight B, Webb in Flight C and Jaglarz in Flight D. Brill will team up with Petushkova in the Flight A doubles draw with Herder and Williams, as Jaglarz and Webb will be in Flight B.
Following the Drake Invitational, the Bulldogs will travel to Minneapolis, Minn. for the Gopher Invitational from Sept. 22-24.
