Photo by: Brittany Evans
DU’s Daugherty, Jurkowska Pick Up Wins on Day of Husker Invite
9/26/2026 10:37:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Daugherty earns first collegiate win, Jurkowska moves to 2-0 in singles on Saturday
LINCOLN, Nebraska – The University of Denver women's tennis team saw two of its newcomers pick up singles victories on the second day of the 2026 Husker Invitational, hosted by the University of Nebraska, on Saturday.
Fifth-year student-athlete Paulina Jurkowska moved to 2-0 as a Pioneer with her win on Saturday while freshman Caroline Daugherty collected the first singles victory of her young collegiate career. Both did so with straight-sets wins.
Jurkowska dropped just three total games in her win, answering a 6-2 first set with just a single game lost in the second. She has now won needed just two sets to win both her singles matches since transferring to Denver.
Daugherty rebounded after a tight three-set loss on Friday to win, 6-3 6-4, on Saturday. The freshman won in doubles on Day 1 of the tournament for her first overall win as a collegiate player and now owns 1-1 records in both singles and doubles through two days on play.
Sophomore Yunfei Cai narrowly dropped her singles contest on the day, falling in three sets for the second match in a row. Freshman Frankie Tye had begun a rally from a set down after winning her second set in tiebreak, but she was forced to retire after just one game played in the third due to injury.
For doubles, Denver mixed up its pairings for the tournament's second day. The duo of Daugherty and junior Sofia Mavor played DU's closest match on Saturday but dropped the result, 6-8.
The 2026 Husker Invitational concludes on Sunday with a second round of each doubles and singles, beginning at 9 a.m. CT/8 a.m. MT.
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Doubles
Skelton/Whiteside (Missouri) def. Cai/Hansen: 8-2
Day/Vargas (Iowa State) def. Daugherty/Mavor: 8-6
Hanke/Liepert (Minnesota) def. Jaiani/Nguyen: 8-2
Coe/Rizzetto (Nebraska) def. Jurkowska/Tye: 8-4
Singles
Hyejeong Ahn (Kansas) def. Yunfei Cai : 6-1 0-6 7-5
Caroline Daugherty def. Gabriella Kellner (Iowa State): 6-3 6-4
Simryn Jacob (Kansas) def. Ruby Hansen: 7-6(6) 6-4
Neda Rahimkhani (Nebraska) def. Natali Jaiani: 6-2 6-1
Paulina Jurkowska def. Reya Coe (Nebraska): 6-2 6-1
Meg McCarty (Kansas) def. Sofia Mavor: 6-0 6-3
Mia Liepert (Minnesota) def. Remy Nguyen: 6-0 6-3
Valeska San Martin (Iowa State) def. Frankie Tye: 1-6 7-6(1) 1-0 ret.
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SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE
To be announced
Fifth-year student-athlete Paulina Jurkowska moved to 2-0 as a Pioneer with her win on Saturday while freshman Caroline Daugherty collected the first singles victory of her young collegiate career. Both did so with straight-sets wins.
Jurkowska dropped just three total games in her win, answering a 6-2 first set with just a single game lost in the second. She has now won needed just two sets to win both her singles matches since transferring to Denver.
Daugherty rebounded after a tight three-set loss on Friday to win, 6-3 6-4, on Saturday. The freshman won in doubles on Day 1 of the tournament for her first overall win as a collegiate player and now owns 1-1 records in both singles and doubles through two days on play.
Sophomore Yunfei Cai narrowly dropped her singles contest on the day, falling in three sets for the second match in a row. Freshman Frankie Tye had begun a rally from a set down after winning her second set in tiebreak, but she was forced to retire after just one game played in the third due to injury.
For doubles, Denver mixed up its pairings for the tournament's second day. The duo of Daugherty and junior Sofia Mavor played DU's closest match on Saturday but dropped the result, 6-8.
The 2026 Husker Invitational concludes on Sunday with a second round of each doubles and singles, beginning at 9 a.m. CT/8 a.m. MT.
FRIDAY'S RESULTS
Doubles
Skelton/Whiteside (Missouri) def. Cai/Hansen: 8-2
Day/Vargas (Iowa State) def. Daugherty/Mavor: 8-6
Hanke/Liepert (Minnesota) def. Jaiani/Nguyen: 8-2
Coe/Rizzetto (Nebraska) def. Jurkowska/Tye: 8-4
Singles
Hyejeong Ahn (Kansas) def. Yunfei Cai : 6-1 0-6 7-5
Caroline Daugherty def. Gabriella Kellner (Iowa State): 6-3 6-4
Simryn Jacob (Kansas) def. Ruby Hansen: 7-6(6) 6-4
Neda Rahimkhani (Nebraska) def. Natali Jaiani: 6-2 6-1
Paulina Jurkowska def. Reya Coe (Nebraska): 6-2 6-1
Meg McCarty (Kansas) def. Sofia Mavor: 6-0 6-3
Mia Liepert (Minnesota) def. Remy Nguyen: 6-0 6-3
Valeska San Martin (Iowa State) def. Frankie Tye: 1-6 7-6(1) 1-0 ret.
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SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE
To be announced
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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
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_WTennis on Threads
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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/ Women's Tennis
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