Women's Tennis Narrowly Falls To DePaul, 4-3

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton women's tennis team narrowly fell to DePaul, 4-3, during a BIG EAST match on Friday night at the Hanscom Indoor Tennis Center.

The Bluejays moved their season record to 3-2, while the Blue Demons improved to 5-1.

Friday's match needed all nine matches to decide a winner, including a dramatic three-set match at No. 4 singles to end the night.

DePaul controlled the opening frame at the fourth singles position with a 6-1 win but Joanna Nowakowska knotted the match with a 7-5 win in the second. The deciding frame went back-and-forth until the Blue Demons earned a close 6-4 victory.

DePaul earned the doubles point with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. The Blue Demons claimed a 6-2 win at the No. 1 slot, but Creighton evened the match with a win at the No. 2 position as Nowakowska and Alex Centra combined for a 6-3 decision. The Bluejay duo of Emma Gener and Malvika Shukla led the No. 3 match 6-5 and had match point, but DePaul evened the match at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. The Blue Demons jumped out to a 5-0 edge in the breaker before Gener and Shukla battled back within one, 6-5. DePaul won the next point to end the doubles portion of the contest with a 7-5 victory in the tiebreaker.

Creighton turned the tides and took a 2-1 edge with a pair of straight sets singles wins. Centra won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 to even the match before Gener earned a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 3.

The Blue Demons tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-2 win at the top spot but Shukla helped the Bluejays regain the lead with a straight-sets win at No. 6 (6-3, 7-5).

DePaul evened the overall score at 3-3 with a 7-5, 6-4 win at No. 2 to set up a winner-take-all situation at the No. 4 singles slot.

"What a match," head coach Tom Lilly said. "Once again we put ourselves in a good spot but every time we started opening the door DePaul had an answer. It wasn't that we played poorly when it got close, it was DePaul playing better. We had match point in the doubles and a good bounce or two our way and this match could have been ours. Credit goes to DePaul who has been the elite of the conference for the last seven years."

Creighton returns to the courts on Sunday morning for a match against Kansas City. First serve between the Bluejays and Roos is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Hanscom Indoor Tennis Courts.

DePaul 4, Creighton 3
2/26/2021 at Omaha, Neb. (Hanscom Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. Aspasia Avgeri (DEP) def. Kate Krueger (CU) 6-3, 6-2

2. Alina Kuzmenkova (DEP) def. Sarah Wilcox (CU) 7-5, 6-4

3. Emma Gener (CU) def. Lenka Antonijevic (DEP) 6-2, 7-5

4. Yuliya Kizelbasheva (DEP) def. Joanna Nowakowska (CU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-4

5. Alex Centra (CU) def. Marija Jovicic (DEP) 6-2, 6-1

6. Malvika Shukla (CU) def. Maddie Yergler (DEP) 6-3, 7-5

Doubles competition

1. Lenka Antonijevic/Yuliya Kizelbasheva (DEP) def. Kate Krueger/Sarah Wilcox (CU) 6-2

2. Alex Centra/Joanna Nowakowska (CU) def. Marija Jovicic/Kaya Rand (DEP) 6-3

3. Aspasia Avgeri/Maddie Yergler (DEP) def. Emma Gener/Malvika Shukla (CU) 7-6 (7-5)

Match Notes

DePaul 5-1

Creighton 3-2

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

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Team Stats

Players Mentioned

Alex Centra

Emma Gener

Kate Krueger

Joanna Nowakowska

Malvika Shukla