Three Upper Iowa women's tennis players opened the season at the Drake Invitational this weekend at the Knapp Tennis Center in Des Moines. The trio of players all picked up victories in singles competition and played in doubles action as well.
 
Shakhnaza Zhanatova went 1-1 in singles as part of Flight B. The junior, who is coming off an All-NSIC First Team nod in 2017-18, defeated Kate Merrick of the University of Northern Iowa in her first match 6-4, 6-3. Merrick went on to win the consolation side of the bracket with three straight wins. Zhanatova lost in the quarterfinals to Daria Walczak of Drake University 6-0, 6-1.
 
Two newcomers played in Flight D and did very well. Maryke Badenhorst and Deimante Krivickaite both won a pair of matches to land in the flight championship against each other. Badenhorst bested Alex Kozlowski of Drake 6-4, 6-2 and Justine Linscott of Nebraska-Omaha 6-4, 6-1. Krivickaite beat Rebecca Falkner of Augustana University 6-1, 6-4 and Morganne Borsh of Northern Iowa 6-2, 7-5. The two faced each other in the Flight D final match, but an injury to Badenhorst cut the bout short with Krivickaite ahead 3-1.
 
In doubles, Zhanatova and Badenhorst combined in the Flight A bracket losing to Natalie Lorentz and Savanna Crowell of Nebraska-Omaha 8-1 and to Jana Lazarevic and Natka Kmoskova of the University of South Dakota. Krivickaite teamed up with Frederica Salmaso of Missouri Western State University in the Flight B bracket dropping a match to Merrick and Fain of Northern Iowa 8-5 and to Sophia Haleas and Megan Webb of Drake.
 
The Peacocks will hit the courts as a team this coming Saturday, Sept. 22 for a dual with the Spartans of Dubuque University. The matches in Dubuque will start at 3:30 p.m.