Women's Tennis Opens Spring With 4-3 Win vs. North Dakota

OMAHA, Neb. -- The Creighton women's tennis team opened the spring season with a 4-3 victory over North Dakota on Sunday, Jan. 23, inside Hanscom Indoor Tennis Center.

The Bluejays started the match by winning the doubles point, but it wasn't easy. The Bluejays dropped the opener at No. 1 doubles before Sarah Wilcox and Valerie Negin teamed up for a 6-4 victory in the No. 2 spot. With the doubles point riding on the victor of the No. 3 doubles match, it was Jeanne Gearity and Meredith Benson who came up clutch. The Bluejay duo survived a match point to force a tiebreaker, which it won 7-4, to stake CU to an early 1-0 lead.

Negin got singles play off to a promising start for the hosts with a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Allie Ochotorena in the No. 3 spot. Kate Krueger followed suit at No. 1 singles, earning a 6-1, 6-4 victory vs. Sapir Sela as the Bluejays went ahead 3-0 in the match.

UND's Lucia Rizza won at No. 5 singles for the first point of the match for the Fighting Hawks before Bluejay sophomore Malvika Shukla clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-4 win vs. UND's Nore Heinitz. Shukla improved to 9-0 in singles play during her dual meet career with the Bluejays.

The Fighting Hawks won the final two singles matches at No. 2 and No. 6 to account for the final score.

"Great start to the season with a tough win," said Creighton head coach Tom Lilly. "We have had to handle some adversity early this year with some injuries, but the girls have come together and we have great team chemistry which helps. We handled some tricky situations today including a match point against us in doubles, but fought hard to get the win."

The CU victory avenged a loss in Grand Forks last season and improved the Bluejays to 10-2 since 2010 against UND, including a 7-0 mark in Omaha.

The Bluejays are back in action on Tuesday at Nebraska in a match that will start at 5 p.m.

North Dakota vs Creighton (Jan 23, 2022)

Creighton 4, North Dakota 3
Jan 23, 2022 at Omaha, Neb. (Hanscom Indoor Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. Kate Krueger (CU) def. Sapir Sela (UND) 6-1, 6-4

2. Andrea Jansson (UND) def. Sarah Wilcox (CU) 6-3, 6-4

3. Valerie Negin (CU) def. Allie Ochotorena (UND) 6-2, 6-1

4. Malvika Shukla (CU) def. Nore Heinitz (UND) 6-2, 6-4

5. Lucia Rizza (UND) def. Meredith Benson (CU) 6-2, 7-5

6. Angela Georgieva (UND) def. Allison Wilcox (CU) 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-7)

Doubles competition

1. Sapir Sela/Andrea Jansson (UND) def. Kate Krueger/Malvika Shukla (CU) 6-3

2. Sarah Wilcox/Valerie Negin (CU) def. Lucia Rizza/Allie Ochotorena (UND) 6-4

3. Jeanne Gearity/Meredith Benson (CU) def. Nore Heinitz/Charlotte Bowles (UND) 7-6 (7-4)

Match Notes

North Dakota 0-3

Creighton 1-0

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

T-3:20