DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake women's tennis team finished their 2023 fall slate with a home invite over the weekend. The Bulldogs hosted quality programs like Missouri, Minnesota, and St. Thomas for the Drake Invite. Breaunna Addison's squad went 3-0 with a pair of shutouts.
 
The Drake Invite was a hidden dual, which is the same format as a typical dual match, but splits the doubles and singles play against different teams each day to prevent it from counting towards overall match records in the spring championship season.
 
The Bulldogs started the weekend with doubles against St. Thomas and singles versus Mizzou. Drake ran the table on Friday, Nov. 3 with straight-set wins in every singles bout.
 
Saturday saw similar results as Drake blitzed the Gophers in doubles action and kept St. Thomas off the board in singles. Mille Haagensen provided some flare in the No. 1 singles match, beating the Tommies' Marthe Degeorges 6-2, 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-4).
 
The weekend ended with doubles action against Missouri and singles versus Minnesota. Haagensen teamed up with Darinka Stepan and Elizabete Klavinska paired with Rebecca Ehn to win both tandem tilts.
 
Minnesota was able to nick the Bulldogs' armor in singles play, winning the No. 4, 5, and 6 matches, but victories by Mille Haagensen, Ines Stephani, and Oriana Parkins-Godwin secured the result for Drake in the final session.
 
"Our goal for the Drake Invite was to commit to playing our brand of tennis, and we succeeded," Addison said. "[Our players] put their heads down and competed with confidence, poise, and grit to tough out some great wins against formidable opponents. More importantly, I believe the results were illustrative of our commitment to the process and the improvements we've made individually and collectively as a team. I'm proud of them, and I believe the Drake Invite was the proverbial ribbon on a solid semester."
 
The Bulldogs' fall schedule has officially come to a close. The full results from the Drake Invite are listed below. The Drake women will be back on the court after the New Year.

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Overall Score:
Drake def. St. Thomas 7-0
Drake def. Mizzou 7-0
Drake def. Minnesota 4-3
 
Day 1: Doubles vs St. Thomas & Singles vs Mizzou
#1 Doubles) Stephani / Parkins def. EL Nemr / Degeorges (UST) 7-5
#2 Doubles) Klavinska / Ehn def Lindahl / Talevera (UST) 6-1
#3 Doubles) UST default (no players)
 
#1 Singles) Stephani def. Martinez (MIZZ) 6-1, 6-3
#2 Singles) Haagensen def. Artemedi (MIZZ) 6-0, 6-3
#3 Singles) Parkins-Godwin def. Cardenas Rifka (MIZZ) 
#4 Singles) Klavinska def. McLellan (MIZZ) 6-1, 6-1
#5 Singles) MIZZ default (no player)
#6 Singles) MIZZ default (no player)
 
Day 2: Doubles vs Minnesota & Singles vs St. Thomas
#1 Doubles) Stephani / Parkins def. Pinto/Liepert (MINN) 6-2
#2 Doubles) Stepan/Haagensen def. Schmitz/Pizzoni (MINN) 6-1
#3 Doubles) Kocevar / Belluomini (MINN) def. Klavinska / Lee 6-2
 
#1 Singles) Haagensen def. Degeorges (UST) 6-2, 6-7(3-7), 7-6 (7-4)
#2 Singles) Parkins-Godwin def El Nemr (UST) 6-3, 6-4
#3 Singles) Klavinska def. Lindahl (UST) 4-6, 7-5, 6-0
#4 Singles) Stepan def. Talevera (UST) 6-2, 6-0
#5 Singles) Lee def. Johnson (UST) 6-2, 6-1
#6 Singles) UST default (no player)
 
Day 3: Doubles vs Mizzou & Singles vs Minnesota
#1 Doubles) Stepan / Haagensen def. Artemedi/Schwarte (MIZZ) 6-4
#2 Doubles) Klavinska/Ehn def. Cardenas Rifka/McLellan (MIZZ) 6-4
 
#1 Singles) Haagensen def. Belluomini (MINN) 6-1, 6-1
#2 Singles) Stephani def. Schmitz (MINN) 6-3, 7-5
#3 Singles) Parkins-Godwin def. Liepert (MINN) 5-7, 6-4, 6-3
#4 Singles) Kocevar (MINN) def. Klavinska 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
#5 Singles) Pinto (MINN) def. Stepan 6-4, 7-6(10-8)
#6 Singles) Pizzoni (MINN) def. Lee 5-7, 6-1, 6-1