AMES, Iowa - The Augustana College women's tennis team dropped its third match of the season to NCAA Division I Iowa State on Saturday. The Vikings own an 18-3 record at the conclusion of their regular season matches while the Cyclones pick up their eighth victory of the season.

"The doubles format was different from what we are used to playing, but I thought Jessa Richards and Sydney Postal did an outstanding job today," head coach Marc Kurtz said. "Unfortunately our No. 2 and No. 3 doubles team did not come out on top, but kept their matches close the entire time."

To open play at the No. 1 doubles spot, Richards and Postal remain perfect on the season winning the top flight 6-1 over Iowa State's Ksenia Pronina and Samantha Budai who own a 3-5 record in the Big 12 conference. The Cyclones went on to defeat the No. 2 and No. 3 Vikings securing the one doubles point, giving them the advantage heading into singles play.

Richards battled Samantha Budai at the top singles flight losing 6-1, 6-4. Postal matched-up against Ksenia Pronina winning a close first-set 7-6 before dropping the tie-breaker match 7-1. The junior then lost the third match by straight-set score of 6-0.

Christine Olivo fell to her Iowa State opponent at the No. 3 singles match 6-1, 6-0. Berkley Darr dropped the first-set 6-2, then powered past her opponent winning 6-4 in the second-set. The freshman came up short in the third-set losing a close 10-7 tiebreaker at the No. 4 singles match.
 
Jenna Helleberg entered the No. 5 singles spot against Ana Gasparovic losing 6-1, 6-0. Meredith Lawrence dropping her first singles match to Caroline Andersen 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 6 flight. The Cyclones closed the door on the Vikings finishing with a 7-0 sweep.

"Switching to singles we pushed our girls to compete against Big 12 conference competitors," Kurtz said. "We are proud of the effort our girls showed today, all of our athletes held their own in each match. This will ultimately prepare us for postseason next weekend.

Augustana now prepare for the NSIC Tournament in Minnetonka, Minn. where they earned the No. 1 seed with their 11-0 record in conference competition.