The Iowa women’s tennis team lost out on its chance to beat every Division I team in the state this season after it lost to Drake, 4-3, in at the Hawkeye Tennis & Recreation Complex on Wednesday.

Iowa started the Drake match on fire, collecting victories on the No. 1 and No. 2 courts in doubles.

Senior Shelby Talcott and freshman Anastasia Reimchen defeated Drake’s Nell Boyd and Maddie Johnson at the No. 1 doubles position (8-2).

At the No. 2 doubles spot, senior Morven McCulloch and junior Annette Dohanics defeated Drake’s Summer Brills and Mariel Ante (6-2).

“We played a great doubles point and put ourselves in a good position,” Iowa head coach Katie Dougherty said.

The contest came down to the wire in singles play. Iowa was leading by a score of 1-0 going into singles, but Drake tied the match at 1 when McCulloch lost to Johnson at the No. 2 spot (6-2, 6-1).

Talcott dominated at the No. 1 spot for the Hawks, defeating Drake’s Ante in straight sets (6-2, 6-2). This was Talcott’s third win in a row at No. 1 in singles; she is now 10-3.

The battle at No. 4 singles between Dohanics and Drake’s Jordan Eggleston was the next to finish. Dohanics was down early in both sets, but out-played her opponent and won (6-3, 6-3).

Dohanics’ victory put the Hawks up 3-1 in the dual. Normally, this would be a great position to be in, but Iowa struggled to find a rhythm on courts 3, 5, and 6. The Hawks dropped the first sets on all three of those courts.

At No. 5 singles, senior Katie Zordani fought her way back from a 5-0 deficit to force tiebreaker points in the second set of her match against Drake’s Adrienne Jensen. Zordani ultimately lost [6-0, 7-6 [7-4]).

This brought the dual to a score of 3-2 in Iowa’ favor. The Bulldogs tied the match at 3 when Drake’s Lea Kozulic defeated Iowa senior Ellen Silver at No. 6 singles (6-1, 6-3).

Only the match between Reimchen and Boyd was left. The crowd converged around court 3 to watch the last two games of the second set.

Boyd won the first set (6-4). Reimchen fought her way back during the second set and tied it at 5. Boyd proved to be too much however, and took the win in the second set (7-5). That secured the 4-3 victory for Drake.

Dougherty didn’t make the Hawkeyes available for interviews after the match. She seemed upset to have to watch her team lose much in the same way as it did in its last outing against Indiana, coming out strong in doubles but failing to capitalize early on in singles.

“We only got two first sets, and ultimately, only got two singles victories,” the sixth-year head coach said. “We dug ourselves a hole and couldn’t recover.

“We let those first sets get away from us and get away from us way too fast.”