The Basics
Drake women's tennis is set for a busy weekend with three games on deck. The Bulldogs will host Omaha on Friday, Feb. 2 before taking on Montana State and South Dakota in two neutral site matches in Sioux Falls, S.D from Feb. 3-4.
Bulldogs by the Numbers
Drake currently holds a 2-2 record after dropping both matches over the opening week and picking up a pair of shutout wins last weekend. The Bulldogs blanked both Milwaukee and Marquette to earn their two wins.
Ines Stephani returned to her No. 1 form last weekend with two wins in Drake's top spot. She also teamed up with
Rebecca Ehn to collect a pair of doubles victories and collect the MVC Doubles Players of the Week.
Elizabete Klavinska, and
Nicole Lee also found a groove vs. Milwaukee and Marquette with two wins each at No. 3 and No. 6, respectively.
Scouting the Competition
Omaha enters the weekend with a 2-5 overall record this spring. The Mavericks went winless at the Hurricane Invite in Tulsa, Okla before taking two-straight 7-0 wins against Sioux Falls and Midland. More recently, Omaha dropped another pair of matches at Bradley and Illinois State. Summer Shannon is the only Omaha player above .500 at 3-2 this spring. Khayli Buckels and Keegan VanPelt have also been key contributors so far this season.
Drake has owned the all-time series with Omaha by a 14-0 margin dating back to 2005. Eight of the Bulldogs' 14 wins have come via shutout.
Montana State is carrying a 3-1 record with wins over North Dakota (1/12), Seattle (1/14), and Utah Tech (1/20). The Bobcats' lone loss came at Utah (1/19) by a 7-0 tally.
The Bulldogs and Bobcats have faced off on one previous occasion with Montana State earning the win. Their lone meeting came in Des Moines during the 2018 season as Montana State win 4-3.
In the final match of the weekend, Drake will battle South Dakota. The Coyotes are also 2-2 this season with one familiar opponent. USD opened the spring with a 4-2 loss at Iowa State, the team that ended Drake's tournament run last season, before beating Missouri State and Sioux Falls at home. The Coyotes were then shutout at Kansas State, the same result as Drake had vs. the Wildcats. South Dakota is led by the twosome of Selena Bird and Grace Chadick.
Drake leads South Dakota 10-0 in the all-time series between the two squads. The series dates back to 2009 and Sunday's meeting will be the first since 2016 to take place outside of Des Moines.
Up Next
The Bulldogs' February schedule will come to a close on Feb. 18 when Drake travels to Iowa City for a meeting with Big Ten foe Iowa.
