In what ended in two nail-biting singles matches, Creighton defeated the University of Nebraska Omaha 4-3 at the Miracle Hills Tennis Center on Feb. 3, improving to 3-0 on the year.
Starting off the match, junior Malvika Shukla and fifth-year senior Leanne Kendall dominated with a quick 28-minute, 6-0 win at the No. 1 doubles position. However, Creighton fell slightly short in the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches, losing both doubles point overall.
When asked about doubles, head coach Tom Lilly said that “UNO always beats us in the doubles, and we have been struggling to get over the hump the last several years.” However, he also stated that this has been, “three matches in a row where we lost the doubles point and we won the match and sometimes you can go two years without that happening.”
After losing the doubles point, the Bluejays quickly took the lead back with two singles wins at the No. 1 and No. 5 positions. After Omaha evened the match out 2-2, Kendall won a tight singles match at the No. 4 position to bring the lead to 4-3.
Finally, No. 3 freshman Ana Paula Martinez fought a close match after winning the first set 7-5, but lost the second 4-6. In the final set, Martinez came back and won dominantly, clinching the overall match for Creighton.
When asked about what changed in her mentality between her close doubles match and her singles match, Martinez replied, “I just started playing for Creighton and for the team and that’s what kept me going and kept me fighting for points.”
Coach Lilly stated that the team, “doesn’t always have the best body language and attitudes but they always fight and that’s the key.” This fighting spirit was backed up by freshman Martinez as she stated that to keep a positive mindset, she tried to, “look at my side, my team, my teammates and Tom, my coach, [who have] helped me all the way. I try to do something for my people”.
The crowds were alive during this crosstown rivalry and showed out by cheering for every single point. Graduate transfer Oscar Alvarez and the rest of the Creighton men’s tennis team supported with chants of “Bluejays”, “It’s a blue city”, “We work on those after practice”, “Suiii” and many more, filling the Miracle Hills Tennis Center with encouragement for the players.
In the next coming weeks. Coach Lilly stated that the team needs to keep improving and working as sometimes, “we are a little bit one-dimensional in some spots and our opponents can kind of pick up on that as the match goes on.” However, Lilly is not discouraged on Creighton’s chances in the Big East, as he commented that, “if we are healthy then we can compete with anybody in our conference and we know that, so we just got to get there.”