DENVER – The No. 39-ranked University of Denver women's tennis team (6-2) topped Wyoming, 6-1, in a Wednesday afternoon match at Denver Tennis Park.
 
DU recovered after narrowly dropping the doubles point to claim straight-sets wins in all six singles matches.
 
Doubles:
DU had the early doubles lead after its No. 3 team of senior Britt Pursell and freshman Anastasia Simonov broke in the final game for a 6-4 win. Wyoming evened things up with a 6-3 win in No. 1 doubles.
 
The doubles point came down to the No. 2 court. Wyoming's Oreshkina/Borodina had an early break over DU's team of fifth-year student Taylor Melville and freshman Louise Wikander, but the Denver duo broke back for 4-4 and then broke to serve for it at 6-5. Wyoming cracked a return winner to get back on serve and force the tiebreaker. Both teams had at least one match point, but it was UW that would win it, 9-7.
 
Singles:
Denver's singles squad fought back after the disappointment in doubles and won all 12 sets played – collecting two bagels and four more sets with only one or two games last.
 
Freshman Caroline Driscoll wrapped the first match for Denver, nearly doing so with a double bagel in No. 5 singles. Driscoll served for the match at 6-0 5-0 but was broken, though she immediately broke again to claim the 6-1 set.
 
Wikander, too, earned a bagel, hers coming in the second set. She set herself up for the win with breaks in the fifth and seventh games before serving it out, 6-2.
 
Pursell lost just four games in her two sets, winning the first set, 6-3, after breaking in the crucial seventh game. After an early break in the second set, she added another break to go up 5-1 and held serve to close out the match.
 
Sophomore Andrea Burguete Beltran's two sets in No. 2 singles followed similar formulas. In both sets, she broke in the first game before breaking again for a 5-2 lead and holding serve to win.
 
Freshman Claudia Martinez de Velasco had a two-break lead in the first set of No. 6 singles. After Wyoming's Lucia Malinak got one break back for 5-4, Martinez de Velasco held on her second attempt at serving for it. The DU freshman finally claimed a break lead in the eighth game of the second set and held for the 6-3 win.
 
Melville came out hot in her first set on court 1, breaking for 3-1 and then again for 5-1, eventually winning it on her second chance to serve for it. She traded breaks early in the second set before breaking late for a 6-5 lead and punctuated the win with an ace up 40-15.
 
Up Next:
No. 39 DU begins Summit League play when it hosts Omaha on Saturday, March 4, at 1:30 p.m. MT at Denver Tennis Park. Denver will also host Summit League opponent St. Thomas on the morning of March 5 for its first match of a double header before traveling down to Air Force that evening.
 
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