DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Augustana women's tennis team started off their 2018 campaign with an impressive performance at the 2018 Drake Invitational. Although there were no team results kept, the Viking's Kornelia Staniszewska finished 4th in flight 'A' singles. In flight 'A' doubles, Staniszewska and teammate Laura Arce Vieyra finished second in the championship match.
 
Kornelia, who is the three-time reigning NSIC player of the year, played extremely well against some of the top talents in the region. The Drake invite included teams from Drake, Creighton, Nebraska Omaha, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri Western, and Upper Iowa.
 
Also impressive was the play of Junior Taylor Jackson. In flight 'C' singles, after a strong first two days, Jackson cruised to the title match. On Sunday, in the championship match versus Northern Iowa's Valentina Caro, it was Jackson coming away with a 6-4, 7-5 win, marking the first individual title for the Vikings this year. 
 
Augustana head coach Marc Kurtz was pleased with his team team's performance and thought they played well overall. "This was a great tournament and we had some awesome results to start off the year," Kurtz said. "All of our players had wins against tough competition. I was really excited that all three of our doubles teams made it into the semifinals. Kornelia and Laura also made it into the "A" doubles championship but had to default because of injury and were unable to finish the match. Kornelia was also ahead 6-4, 5-4 in her singles semifinals and had to retire in that match. I'm really excited about the team that we have, we are very deep and we have a lot of potential with this group of student-athletes. Now we need to get ready for our Augie Invite and then prepare for the ITA tournament."
 
Looking forward to conference play, the Vikings have dominated play in the NSIC, winning 99 consecutive league matches, and a school record nine-straight league titles.  

Next up, the Vikings will be back home to host the Augie Invite, Sept. 22-23 in Sioux Falls.