DENVER – The No. 51-ranked University of Denver women's tennis team (15-6, 6-0 Summit) collected its 10
th-consecutive Summit League regular-season title with its 7-0 sweep of Oral Roberts outside at Denver Tennis Park on Saturday.
Denver remains unbeaten in Summit League play since joining the league in 2013-14. Including its 2013 WAC regular-season crown in 2013, DU has now won 11-straight regular-season conference titles.
Doubles:
DU began the day with wins on all three doubles courts with the matches all concluding within minutes of each other. Getting things started was the No. 3 team of sophomores
Alice Otis and
Claudia Martinez de Velasco, which jumped out to a 5-0 lead before giving away its only return game of the match and then holding in the final game.
The No. 1 match wrapped up shortly afterward with graduate student
Britt Pursell and junior
Andrea Burguete Beltran collecting a 6-3 win, taking a 4-2 lead in what would be the only break needed to take the victory.
Sophomores
Caroline Driscoll and
Louise Wikander held a 30-15 lead while serving up 5-1 when the doubles point was clinched, allowing the team's the play out the final points and giving Denver the clean sweep.
Singles:
Denver quickly moved within a point of clinching the win with matching 6-1 6-1 scorelines at Nos. 5 and 6 singles from Otis and Martinez de Velasco, respectively. Otis opened up a 4-0 lead before her opponent got her first hold of the day and then jumped out to 5-0 in the second set. Martinez de Velasco followed a similar patter in the first set, then broke to begin her second set on her way to an eventual 5-1 lead.
Beltran clinched the dual for Denver in No. 1 singles. She took the first break for a 5-3 lead in the first set but gave it back in the following game before breaking once more in the set's final game. She broke for a third-consecutive return game to open the second set and stretched her lead to 5-1 before serving it out at 6-1.
Shortly after, Pursell closed out her No. 2 singles match also in straight sets. She traded breaks early in the first, then retook a break lead at 4-3 as part of her winning the final four games of the set. She carried momentum into the second set, breaking in her first two return games and eventually sealing it at 6-1.
Wikander put Denver up 6-0, also in straight sets. Her first set mirrored Pursell's second with two breaks to begin and a 6-1 final score. She lost her serve for the first time to start the second set but rallied back from 1-3 down to take five of the final six games.
The last court to finish was the only to go beyond two sets and featured a comeback-victory for Driscoll at No. 3 singles. After dropping the first set, she found herself down a break again in the opening game of the second set. She broke back for 3-3 and then again in what would be the final game of the set to force a 10-point tiebreak. ORU held a 1-4 lead in the breaker, but Driscoll slowed worked her way back for an eventual 8-5 lead and a 10-7 win.
Up Next:
The University of Denver women's tennis team has secured the top seed in the 2024 Summit League Tennis Championships and will await the announcement of the draw with the semifinals scheduled for Friday, April 19, in Waukee, Iowa.
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