DENVER – The University of Denver women's tennis team (9-5, 2-0 Summit) collected a 5-2 win over Davidson at Denver Tennis Park on Friday afternoon in what was the team's final home match for the month of March.
For the third time in its last four matches, DU won the doubles point before clinching the dual at 4-0. Davidson got on the board for 4-1 before the teams split the final two singles matches, each going to a 10-point tiebreak.
Doubles:
In the two clinching doubles matches, Denver lost just three combined games – and dropped just six across all three matches in total.
The all-senior team of
Claudia Martinez de Velasco and
Louise Wikander wrapped up the No. 2 match for the duo's second consecutive 6-2 win. The two Pioneers broke in the opening game and added a second break for 4-1, and went on to serve it out in the eighth and final game.
DU's No. 3 team of senior
Zoe Adkins and sophomore
Natálie Cinková lost one fewer game than Martinez de Velasco/Wikander for their team-best eighth win of the dual season. Both teams held serve in their opening service games before Adkins/Cinkova went on a five-game win streak to close it out, 6-1.
On Court 1, senior
Marley Lambert and freshman
Yunfei Cai had broken for a 5-3 lead before the match was abandoned.
Singles:
As was the case for doubles, Denver won at least four of the six singles matches for the third time in its last four matches to clinch the dual.
Starting things off was Wikander with her eighth dual win of the dual season thus far, all at the No. 1 spot. She was forced to rally after giving up a break to start the match but leveled things at 2-2 in the opening set with the first two of six consecutive games won to claim a 6-2 lead. He first three games of the second set went to the server before Wikander again went on a multi-game win streak to seal the set, this time with five games won in a row. Her three combined games lost in the match were her second fewest in a dual so far in 2026.
Freshman Cai continued her hot start to her collegiate career, winning a singles match with three or fewer games lost for a sixth time. With breaks in the first and fifth games, she took the opening set, 6-2, and followed it up with a bagel set for the fifth time in dual match play thus far.
Cinková clinched the dual with a third straight-set win for Denver. She broke in her opening return game and added an insurance break for 5-2, which proved critical when Davidson's Charlotte Calderwood stayed alive by getting one of those breaks back. Cinková refocused and was able to hold on her second attempt to successfully serve it out for 6-4. The second set saw Cinková claim the first four games before she sealed it, 6-1.
Davidson got its first point at No. 5 singles, leaving two rubbers left that both went to match tiebreaks. Lambert won the first of the two for her first 10-point tiebreak victory of the dual season and did so to complete a rally from a set down. She began her comeback in the second set, despite going down a break at 0-2 and then again 3-4. The senior broke back each time and ultimately forced a tiebreak where she continued to battle, fighting back from 2-5 down to win five straight points to send the match to a decider. In the match tiebreak, Lambert flipped the script with a dominant performance, going on a seven-point win streak on her way to a 10-4 win.
The last match on court was the No. 3 match that saw Davidson's Ellie Hammond rally from down a set to win the match in another breaker, clinching it with a 10-6 performance.
Up Next:
The No. 52-ranked University of Denver women's tennis team begins another four-match road trip after a bye week, visiting Memphis, Tennessee, for a meeting with host Memphis on Wednesday, March 25, and a neutral-site match against Xavier on Friday, March 27.
