Des Moines, Iowa – The Augustana women's tennis team traveled to Des Moines, Iowa, this past weekend to open the fall portion of the 2022-23 season at the Drake Invite. The invite was an individualized tournament setup that saw all eight student-athletes compete. 

"Overall, this was a great first tournament for our team," said Augustana head coach Marc Kurtz. "We only had two days of practice before the tournament so I didn't know what to expect but I was pleased with the way that we competed and improved as the weekend went along". 

In singles, Augustana pulled off major wins over dominant Division I programs. Junior Florentia Hadjigeorgiou had wins over Melissa Becarra of Kearney and Valeria Negin of Creighton. Freshman and Augustana newcomer Senem Ocal knocked off Nore Heinitz of North Dakota and Jessica Aragon of Omaha. 

"I thought our doubles play was strong all weekend long and our singles play improved after the first day where we lost some close matches," Kurtz added. 

In doubles, Hadjigeorgiou and Ocal pulled off a win against Negin and Kendall of Creighton. Sophomore Grabriela Jancikova and senior Laura Arce Vieyra took down the host team of Drake 8-6. 

"I felt we controlled our emotions and handled the stressful situations better as the tournament went along which was nice to see," Kurtz said. Now we need to work on a few things in practice over the next few weeks and get ready for the ITA regional tournament."

The Augustana women will be back in action next weekend when they travel to the ITA Regionals in Edmond, Oklahoma, from Sept. 22 to Sept. 25.

–GoAugie.com–