The UNI women’s tennis team has had a strong start to their fall 2018 season.

After kicking off competition at the Drake Invitational to open the year and taking on challengers at the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis a week later, the purple and gold competed at the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) Individual Tennis Championships in Springfield, Missouri earlier this week

Several of the Panthers who took to the court in Springfield were first year student athletes, including Olivia Fain. She defeated Brooke Smith of Missouri State 6-0, 6-3 to claim third-place in the Flight 7 singles competition.

Fain and her teammate Kate Merrick finished in fourth place in the Flight 3 doubles, falling to Ana Carrion-Rodriguez and Anastasia Koniaev of Stony Brook, 6-1. Harri Proudfoot and Vale Caro were defeated by senior Jana Kustkova and sophomore Laura Fitzgerald of Illinois State in the fifth-place match of the Flight 2 doubles, 6-0.

Another first-year player Daisy Phillips went the distance in the Flight 6 singles championship match, falling 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to Estelle Vanthier of Illinois State to take the second-place finish.

The Panthers will conclude the fall portion of their schedule starting on Friday, Oct. 12 as they compete at the ITA Regional Tournament in Iowa City.