LOS ANGELES – The No. 57-ranked University of Denver women's tennis team (17-7, 6-0 Summit) dropped its first-round match in the 2024 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championships to No. 25-ranked Texas Tech on Friday.
 
No. 2-seeded TTU took the match, 4-1, over No. 3-seeded Denver with DU sophomore Alice Otis claiming the Pioneers' only point with a straight-sets win at No. 5 singles.
 
This was the 10^th-consecutive NCAA tournament appearance for Denver and the 13^th overall. For the second year in a row and for the ninth time in 15 NCAA matches played, DU claimed at least one point off its opponent – including both of its NCAA meetings against the Red Raiders (also in the 2017 second round).
 
Doubles:
Texas Tech opened the day with wins at Nos. 1 and 3 doubles to earn the first point of the dual. The No. 3 match wrapped up first with the Red Raiders claiming a quick break lead and then adding a second before closing it out, 6-2. They clinched the point at No. 1 doubles, getting the first break in the seventh game and finished with a hold at 6-4.
 
Singles:
The Red Raiders jumped out to a 3-0 overall lead with straight-sets wins at Nos. 2 and 3 singles before Otis put Denver on the board with her own win in two sets. She started the No. 5 singles with breaks in all but one of her return games in the first set, eventually taking it, 6-2. In the second set, she again broke in the opening game but gave the lead back for 1-1. TTU's Andreea Lila turned that into a break lead at 1-4 before Otis began her comeback, winning the final five games to take the match.
 
Texas Tech secured its spot in the NCAA second round with a win at No. 6 singles. On the remaining courts, Denver kept things close. Burguete Beltran dropped the first set at No. 1 singles to No. 55-ranked Cristina Tiglea before fighting back from a break down again early in the second. The second frame was all-even at 2-2 when the match was abandoned.
 
DU sophomore Louise Wikander was on serve late in the second set of her No. 4 singles match. After losing the first set, she stormed out to a 3-0 lead in the second and stretched it to 5-1 before TTU's Matka Komac got back to 5-5. Wikander held in the final completed game for a 6-5 lead.
 
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