DENVER – The University of Denver women's tennis team (3-7, 0-0 Summit) won its second straight match – and third of the year in a sweep – with a 7-0 victory over Montana State at Denver Tennis Park on Friday.
 
Doubles:
Denver started off the day by winning the doubles point for the third match in a row, securing it with victories on Courts 2 and 3. DU's No. 2 team of juniors Claudia Martinez de Velasco and Louise Wikander equaled their best performance so far in 2025 with a 6-2 win. They broke in their second return game as part of a five-game win streak that put them up 5-1. MSU was able to hold for 5-2 before the Pioneers served it out.
 
Junior Hana Bečirovič Novak and freshman Natálie Cinková clinched the point at the No. 3 spot, earning their first win in dual match play. After trading breaks to begin play, the match remained on serve until the Denver duo broke for a 5-4 lead and successfully backed it up with a hold in the following game to seal it.
 
The teams opted to play out the No. 1 match, which was sitting at 5-5 when DU clinched the point. DU senior Andrea Burguete Beltran and junior Marley Lambert started off with a break lead in the match before falling behind, 2-4. They rallied back for 4-4 but again faced a break deficit with MSU serving for it at 6-5. Burguete Beltran/Lambert broke immediately back to force the tiebreak but could not come back from a 2-4 hole.
 
Singles:
Two of the first three doubles matches to finish featured Pioneers winning after losing just two games. Wikander got on the board first, winning her opening set with a bagel but going down a break to start the second set. She responded to an 0-2 deficit by going on a second six-game win streak to finish it off.
 
Bečirovič Novak gave Denver a 3-0 lead in the No. 5 spot with another straight-sets win. The players traded breaks in the second and third games before the DU junior broke yet again for a 3-2 lead, the first of five straight games won to end the first set and start the second. Again, she broke midway through the second set in what proved to be the only lead she needed to close it out.
 
Cinková put up a similar performance to Wikander at No. 6 singles in the clinching match. She opened by taking the match's first three games and then added a second break in what would be the final game at 6-2 – winning the final three games of the opening frame as part of a nine-game win streak when factoring in her 6-0 second set.
 
At No. 4 singles, Martinez de Velasco split her first two sets before securing the win in a 10-point match tiebreak. She turned in a strong first set, leaping out to a 5-1 lead before breaking for 6-3 at deuce. Her opponent flipped the script in the second set, taking it 6-1, before the Denver junior got back on track in the breaker.
 
Burguete Beltran got back in the win column with a straight-sets victory. With a break in her opening return game, the senior was able to hold onto the lead before serving it out at 6-4. The second set saw her go down the early break before she leveled things at 4-4 in the first of three straight games won to finish the match.
 
The day's final match ended in a match tiebreak, seeing Lambert fight back from a set down to secure the win. Her rally started late in the second set when she broke at love for 5-3 and held on at deuce in the next game to get to the breaker. She traded minibreaks to enter both changeovers on level terms at 3-3 and 6-6 before getting to match point at 9-6 and winning the next point on her opponent's serve.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver women's tennis team continues its six-match homestand with its first three Summit League matches of the year, starting with duals against Kansas City and Omaha on March 1 and 2 at Denver Tennis Park.
 
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