Women's Tennis Downs North Dakota 6-1

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton women's tennis team earned its fifth victory of the season by downing North Dakota 6-1 on Sunday at the Hanscom Tennis Center.

The Bluejays improved to 5-10 overall, including 2-2 during home matches.

Creighton claimed the first point of Sunday's match and dropped only a total of three games at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles positions. Erin Epperson and Gabby O'Connor combined for a 6-1 win at No. 3 before Ashley Ishimura and Sarah Wilcox won 6-2 at the top slot.

Ishimura and Wilcox improved to 7-6 this season as the Bluejays' top doubles pair.

Creighton secured the overall match with straight-sets victories at the three, four and six singles positions. Michaela Henne claimed a 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 3, Epperson won 6-2, 7-5 at No. 4, and O'Connor won 7-5, 6-3 at No. 6.

Wilcox and Claire Embree ended the afternoon with three-set victories. Wilcox lost 7-6 in the opening set at No. 2 but battled for a 6-4 win in the second. The freshman trailed 9-8 in a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the match before winning the final three points for her team-leading seventh singles win. Embree split the first two sets at No. 5 as each went to a tiebreaker. In the 10-point tiebreaker third set, Embree won 10-4 to clinch Creighton's sixth win.

North Dakota's lone victory came during three sets during the top singles match. Ishimura won the first set, 6-2, but fell by the same margin during both the second and third frames.

"Noth Dakota never went away today and fought hard," head coach Tom Lilly said. "We had a few positions that let situations get to them negatively. I hope we can do a better job of accepting challenges and being tougher. We will be tough to beat if we get better in those moments."

Creighton is back in action on Tuesday for a match in Kansas City against UMKC.

Creighton 6, North Dakota 1
3/24/2019 at Omaha, Neb. (Hanscom Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. Isa Sullivan (UND) def. Ashley Ishimura (CU) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

2. Sarah Wilcox (CU) def. Kaede Amano (UND) 6-7, 6-4, 11-9

3. Michaela Henne (CU) def. Preethi Kasilingam (UND) 6-1, 6-4

4. Erin Epperson (CU) def. Zahra Finnigan (UND) 6-2, 7-5

5. Claire Embree (CU) def. Alex Revenig (UND) 7-6, 6-7, 10-4

6. Gabby O'Connor (CU) def. Masha Lobanova (UND) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. Ashley Ishimura/Sarah Wilcox (CU) def. Kaede Amano/Masha Lobanova (UND) 6-2

2. Claire Embree/Michaela Henne (CU) vs. Zahra Finnigan/Alex Revenig (UND) 5-2, unfinished

3. Erin Epperson/Gabby O'Connor (CU) def. Preethi Kasilingam/Isa Sullivan (UND) 6-1

Match Notes

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (3,4,6,1,2,5)

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Claire Embree

Erin Epperson

Michaela Henne

Ashley Ishimura

Gabby O'Connor