Women's Tennis Starts Drake Invitational with 13 Wins, Sends Three Doubles Pairs To Finals

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton women's tennis team posted six doubles wins during the first day of the Drake Invitational in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday and sent three pairs into Sunday's finals. The Bluejays also won seven matches during first round action in singles play, including six via 10-point tie breakers, as Creighton ended the day with a combined 13-1 record in doubles and singles action.

The Bluejays' weekend trip to central Iowa marked the beginning of the 2021 fall schedule.

The pair of Kate Krueger and Malvika Shukla tallied a pair of 8-3 wins in Flight 1, Sarah Wilcox and Valerie Negin claimed 8-6 and 8-3 victories in Flight 2 and Siri Kongara and Emma Gener won 8-4 in Flight 3 after receiving a bye in the first round. All three of those doubles teams advanced to Sunday's finals.

Meredith Benson and Gabby O'Connor fell during a first round match in Flight 4 before bouncing back for an 8-1 win in a consolation contest.

During singles action, the Bluejays battled from behind in four different matches and won a total of six matches via a 10-point tie breaker. Overall, the Bluejays went 7-0 during first-round singles play on Friday afternoon.

Krueger, Sarah Willcox, Shukla and Kongara each dropped the first set in their respective matches before winning the second frame and coming out on top in a 10-point breaker to decide the contest.

In Flight 2 singles, Gener won the opening set 6-0, fell 4-6 in the second, but found a way to outlast her opponent 15-13 to win the breaker.

Negin won in straight sets in Flight 3 during her Bluejay debut.

"We had a very good day and were pretty fortunate in singles to go 7-0," head coach Tom Lilly said. "When you play 10-point match tie breakers instead of full third sets you figure it's a coin flip. To win all six is quite amazing. I'm more proud of how we came back in four of the singles after dropping the first sets. It was a great start to the tournament and now we need to get a good rest for a big singles day tomorrow."

Creighton's stay at the Drake Invitational continues with multiple rounds of singles matches on Saturday.

Drake Invite Day 1
Flight 1 Doubles
Kate Krueger/Malvika Shukla def. Emma Carr/Darta Dalecka (Northern Iowa), 8-3
Krueger/Shukla def. Rebecca Ehn/Elizaveth Petushkova (Drake), 8-3
Flight 2 Doubles
Sarah Wilcox/Valerie Negin def. Alexia Di Giulio/Rachel Osborn (Omaha), 8-6
Wilcox/Negin def Ines Stephani/Kelsey Neville (Drake), 8-3
Flight 3 Doubles
Siri Kongara/Emma Gener def. Daria Walczak/Jyun-Yi Lee (Drake), 8-4
Flight 4 Doubles
Lorena Cardoso/Issa Sullivan (Northern Iowa) def. Meredith Benson/Gabby O'Connor, 8-4
Benson/O'Connor def. Justine Linscott/Lillian Tiemeyer (Omaha), 8-1

Flight 1 Singles
Kate Krueger def. Darta Dalecka (Northern Iowa), 2-6, 7-5, 10-7
Sarah Wilcox def. Elizaveta Petushkova (Drake), 3-6, 6-1, 10-5
Flight 2 Singles
Emma Gener def. Andrijana Brkic (Northern Iowa), 6-0, 4-6, 15-13
Malvika Shukla def. Berta Girbau (South Dakota), 2-6, 6-1, 11-9
Flight 3 Singles
Siri Kongara def. Aleksandra Kistanova (Augustana), 3-6, 7-5, 10-7
Valerie Negin def. Kelsey Neville (Drake), 6-4, 6-2
Flight 4 Singles
Allison Wilcox def. Olivia Fain (Northern Iowa), 3-6, 6-4, 10-8

Women's Tennis Starts Drake Invitational with 13 Wins, Sends Three Doubles Pairs To Finals

Players Mentioned

Meredith Benson

Siri Kongara

Kate Krueger

Valerie Negin

Gabby O'Connor

Malvika Shukla

Allison Wilcox

Sarah Wilcox

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