TULSA, Oklahoma – The No. 44-ranked University of Denver women's tennis team (17-4) swept Omaha, 4-0, in the Summit League semifinals on Friday to book its spot in the Summit League title match.
No. 1-seeded Denver will play No. 3 North Dakota in the Summit League Final after the Fighting Hawks won, 4-1, over No. 2 Kansas City in the second semifinal on Friday afternoon.
The 2023 and nine-time Summit League regular-season champion, Denver extended its streak of Summit League championship match appearances to nine, doing so in every season since joining the League in 2013-14. DU will seek its ninth Summit League tournament title.
Doubles:
Denver won the doubles point despite going down early breaks in two matches. In the No. 2 spot, sophomore
Andrea Burguete Beltran and freshman
Claudia Martinez de Velasco broke in the fourth and sixth games to set them up to serve it out at 6-1.
Freshmen
Caroline Driscoll and
Louise Wikander traded breaks twice to begin their No. 3 doubles match before taking a break lead, 4-3, and consolidating for 5-3. The broke yet again in what would be the match's final game to secure the point for Denver.
In No. 1 doubles, fifth-year student
Taylor Melville and senior
Britt Pursell, too, were broken in their first service game but broke back to even in at 2-2. The returning team would then win the next four games before Melville/Pursell would hold for a 5-4 lead, at which point the doubles point was in hand and left their match unfinished.
Singles:
Denver cruised early in singles, winning the first set in all five matches including three bagels before clinching the victory with three-straight wins within minutes of each other.
Driscoll led things off with the first bagel for DU at No. 5 singles and would only drop two games in the second set, taking the lead at 3-1 before going up 5-2 and closing it out.
Driscoll's fellow freshman and doubles partner Wikander would put Denver within one point of the win in No. 4 singles. After breaking in her first return game, she added an insurance break for a 5-1 lead, where she would close out the first set. She took her first break of the second set in the fourth game and again added another break for a 5-2 lead before serving it out.
Pursell clinched the sweep for DU just moments after Wikander's victory on court 3, matching Driscoll's final score line of 6-0 6-2. Like Driscoll, she first gained the lead in the second set at 3-1 and finished things off with another break in hand at 5-2.
Martinez de Velasco was within striking distance of a win at No. 6 singles when the dual was clinched. After going up 3-0 and then closing it out at 5-2 in the first set, she was up 5-0 in the second set when the match was left unfinished.
The No. 1 singles match was a battle with Melville claiming the opening set, 6-3, after being broken the in the opening game but breaking back for 2-2 and then breaking again her next return game. She traded breaks in the first two games of the second set and was back on serve at 1-2 when DU clinched the win.
Burguete Beltran did not finish her match either, though she joined Driscoll and Pursell with a bagel in the first set during her No. 2 singles match.
Up Next:
Denver will face No. 3 seed North Dakota in the 2023 Summit League Championship match, which is set for Saturday, April 22, at 2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT.
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