DES MOINES, Iowa – The South Dakota women's tennis team had another strong performance during the fall season, this time at the Bulldog Invite hosted by Drake University at the Roger Knapp Tennis Center.
The Coyotes won titles in two of the three doubles draws during the three-day event and also had two individuals reach title matches in their respective flights, one coming away with a title.
"Another really good tournament for the team," coach
Brett Barnett said. "I am so proud of how everyone competed and fought.
"We played better than last week against some tougher competition."
Grace Chadick and
Anna Medvyedyeva teamed up for the second straight week in doubles and posted a 3-0 mark while claiming the title in the White Flight. The duo improved their fall season record to 9-0 with two wins over Drake sandwiched around a win over North Dakota.
Selena Bird and
Hitakamya Narwal claimed the title in the Gray Flight with wins over Omaha, Creighton and Northern Iowa in the title match. The duo is now 6-3 on the fall season.
Bea Havlickova and
Sorcha Caves teamed to go 2-1 and claim third place in the Blue Flight, while
Paige Alter and
Amanda de Oliveira went 1-2 in the Blue Flight.
"Doubles play was great," said Barnet. "I love how aggressive we are looking to play and winning two out of the three doubles draws is awesome.
"Grace and Anna are on a roll and playing so well as a team. Hiti and Selena did a great job going 3-0 and Bea and Sorcha had a big win over Wichita State."
Chadick, a junior, went 3-0 in singles play to win the Black Flight, posting wins over Northern Iowa, Drake and Northern Iowa in the finals, all coming in straight sets. Chadick remained unbeaten in singles play during the fall season at 5-0.
Bird, a sophomore, advanced to the title match in the Red Flight, posting wins over Creighton and Omaha before suffering a tough loss in the third-set tie-break to Drake in the title match. Bird is 5-1 on the fall season.
Narwal, a freshman, won her lone singles match of the invite with a straight sets win over Omaha to move to 4-0 on the season.
"Grace won her singles draw playing a very good tennis each match," Barnett added. "We were literally point's away from having nearly everyone in finals. Great tournament by Selena who came up a bit short but played well.
"We'll start doing a better job closing out matches the more we are in those situations."
Havlickova, Medvyedyeva, de Oliveira, Caves and Alter all went 1-1 in singles play during the event.
The Coyotes have posted a 31-9 singles mark through two fall events while also going 25-11 in doubles play.
"Everyone is playing well and Bea and Amanda had nice wins over Wichita State in singles," said Barnett. "Sorcha continues to improve each time out and does a nice job playing the way she needs to.
"Proud of how we are playing as a team and continuing to improve each day."
South Dakota will play its third consecutive week as it heads to Fort Collins, Colorado for the Colorado State Fall Invite.
