DURHAM, North Carolina – The University of Denver women's tennis team came within a point of a win but ultimately fell, 4-3, to Princeton in the consolation match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Saturday.
 
DU dropped the doubles point and fought back from deficits in singles to level things at 3-3 with just the No. 1 singles match remaining in a third set. Junior Andrea Burguete Beltran saved multiple match points late in the third but was then unable to covert her own match points, sending the deciding match into a tiebreak that Princeton would take, 7-4.
 
Doubles:
Princeton took the first point of the day with 6-2 and 6-3 wins in Nos. 2 and 3 doubles, respectively. Denver's No. 1 team of Beltran and graduate student Britt Pursell held a break lead late but did not complete their match.
 
Singles:
Sophomore Alice Otis drew Denver level for the first time on Saturday with a straight-sets win in No. 5 singles including a 6-1 win in the second set. Fellow sophomore Caroline Driscoll followed with her own win in two sets, sealing the match in a second-set tiebreak, 7-4.
 
The Tigers pulled within a point of victory with wins on Court 3 when sophomore Louise Wikander retired late in the second set and on Court 6 in a three-set battle over DU sophomore Claudia Martinez de Velasco.
 
Facing a 3-2 scoreboard in favor of Princeton, Pursell fought back in three sets to even things at 3-all with matching 6-1 wins in sets one and three.
 
The match came down to No. 1 singles, which was late in its third set when Pursell's win wrapped up. Beltran fought off three match points for her opponent at 4-5 before breaking to get to 5-all. After holding serve, she then had four match points of her own but couldn't convert and found herself in a tiebreak, where she jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Princeton took a late minibreak-lead and finally closed the win at 7-4.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver women's tennis team returns home to host two Power-5 opponents at Denver Tennis Park, starting with Kansas State on Friday, February 2, at 11 a.m. MT.
 
Denver's Home for College Sports
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Women's Tennis on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_WTennis on Twitter
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_WTennis on Instagram