Like a young fighter going through the ropes in hopes of becoming a title contender, the Drake women's tennis team has gone through a similar metamorphosis the last three seasons under head coach Urska Juric. The Bulldogs began to show their muscle as young contenders this past season en route to an 11-12 mark, including a 5-3 third place Missouri Valley Conference showing.
Experience was one asset the Bulldogs lacked entering their spring campaign as only seniors Veronika Leszayova, Sarah Plowman and Kari Sloboth had competed in a dual, let alone a league match in their collegiate careers. The thing about experience is that sometimes youthful exuberance and bravado can trump all that one lacks in experience.
Drake's six newcomers quickly meshed with the returning players and created a cohesive unit that gelled as the season progressed. Led by a team-best 20 singles victories from freshmen Gabriela Demos and Jessica Aguilera, the Bulldogs overcame a slow start in which they faced five teams from the Big XII Conference and saw their initial 11 contests occur away from home to earn double-digit victories for the first time under Juric.
Drake found its stride once it returned to the Roger Knapp Tennis Center as the Bulldogs rolled off seven straight wins, including an impressive 4-3 home triumph against Southern Illinois. Drake won its first four league encounters en route to finishing the campaign with a 6-1 home record.
The Bulldogs were seeded fifth at the State Farm MVC Championship in Omaha, Neb., and for the third consecutive season were paired with Illinois State. The Redbirds again proved too much for Drake as Illinois State posted a 4-0 decision to culminate a stellar season for the Bulldogs.
"I was extremely pleased with our season,” Juric commented. “We had rough start against tough teams at the beginning of the season but the experience helped us a lot with preparation for the MVC matches. We finished tied for third in The Valley this year which was the best placement in my three years at Drake.”
Leszayova captured MVC All-Select team accolades for a second straight year, while Leszayova and Sloboth were named first team All-MVC Scholar-Athletes.
Aguilera, freshman Amanda Aragon, Demos and Sloboth captured at least 15 singles victories, while Leszayova, Demos and freshman Morgan Rainey won 15 or more doubles matches. Demos led the Bulldogs with 36 combined singles/doubles triumphs.
Drake also garnered solid play from freshman Earlynn Lauer and sophomore Jessica Labarte.
Leszayova finished her career ranked sixth in school history in doubles victories (57), while Sloboth was eighth in singles with 68 wins.
The positive experiences of 2009 has Juric confident that the Bulldogs have turned a corner and are headed towards building the Drake program to new heights in the coming years.
“We are taking little steps forward every year and hopefully in the next few seasons we can move towards winning the MVC,” Juric said. “We will continue to work hard and smart and see how far we can get."
