The women’s tennis team had their first match up of the spring season and defeated the Drake Bulldogs, 6-1 In Des Moines, Iowa.

Sophomore Erin Wilbert and freshman Victoria Khanevskaya won their doubles match, starting the day off well.

“It was really good for us to get the first doubles point because that gave us motivation to play the singles matches,” Wilbert said. “I was impressed with how our team came out for the first match.”

Wilbert and Khanevskaya were one of two doubles teams from Kansas that won Saturday. Junior Maria Martinez and sophomore Alessandra Dzuba also won. Martinez and Dzuba are ranked 44th in the nation according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

In singles, five out of the six Jayhawks won their matches, including Wilbert, Khanevskaya and Martinez.

“We just played and had fun, we tried to make every ball go in,” Khanevskaya said. “I felt nervous going into doubles, but it feels really good when everyone supports you.”

Senior Kunigunda Dorn won the final singles match of the day despite being pushed to a third set. She finished 6-4, 4-6 and 10-8 after a tie-break in the third set.

“I knew that the whole team had won so that took pressure off of me, but I still wanted to win one more game for the team,” Dorn said.

After a positive day on the court the team had some trouble getting home when their bus broke down, leaving the team at a Jimmy Johns in Des Moines, Iowa.

“Everyone is really happy,” Dorn said. “Even though we are stuck we are having a lot of fun.”

Now the team must prepare for Friday’s match up against Notre Dame at 3 p.m. It will be the team’s first home match of the season.

“It gives us a lot of confidence starting the season off with a 6-1 victory,” Dorn said. “We are just going to play our best when we face them.”

— — Edited by Allyson Shaw