Tennis Teams Split 4-3 Matches With Norfolk State

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Creighton men's and women's tennis teams split a pair of 4-3 matches against Norfolk State on Wednesday in Lakeland, Fla.

The men's team was victorious for the fourth straight match, improving to 5-4, with the hard-fought victory over the Spartans.

Norfolk State won the doubles point to take the early 1-0 lead in the match.

CU evened the match with a walkover at No. 6 singles before taking a 2-1 lead on a 6-1, 6-1 victory by Harrison Lang at No. 3 singles. Alex Koca extended the Bluejay lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-2 win.

Norfolk would win a third set tiebreaker to extend the match with a win at No. 1 singles, and NSU's Antonio Pejic's win at No. 4 singles evened the match.

With all eyes focused on No. 5 singles, it was CU's Jake Glazer emerging with a 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 triumph over Fatehdeep Singh to clinch the Bluejay victory.

Head coach Tom Lilly was pleased with the result. "Another close win for the guys. Our team is really fighting hard and competing for every position. Despite coming out slow and a bit flat in doubles we were able to squeak out a win against a tough Norfolk State squad today."

Creighton 4, Norfolk State 3
Mar 09, 2016 at Lakeland, Fla.

Singles competition

1. Benedikt Henning (NORFOLK) def. Quinn Dippel (CU) 6-2, 3-6, 10-7

2. Alex Koca (CU) def. Dan Dumitrascu (NORFOLK) 6-3, 6-2

3. Harrison Lang (CU) def. Flavian Fernandez (NORFOLK) 6-1, 6-1

4. Antonio Pejic (NORFOLK) def. Brooks Kendall (CU) 7-5, 6-3

5. Jake Glazer (CU) def. Fatehdeep Singh (NORFOLK) 7-6 (7-5), 7-5

6. Anthony Rauschenbach (CU) def. No player (NORFOLK), by default

Doubles competition

1. Flavian Fernandez/Benedikt Henning (NORFOLK) def. Quinn Dippel/Alex Koca (CU) 6-4

2. Antonio Pejic/Fatehdeep Singh (NORFOLK) def. Harrison Lang/August Nysted (CU) 6-1

3. Aaron Chalstrom/Brooks Kendall (CU) def. No player/No player (NORFOLK), by default

Match Notes

Creighton 5-4

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

On the women's side, Creighton (6-5) won all three matches to surge to a lead in the match, and would lead 3-1 after getting singles wins at No. 1 from Ashley Ishimura and No. 3 from Katherine Nelsen.

The Spartans answered with a victory at No. 5 to draw within one and would win a pair of tiebreakers played to 10 at both No. 2 and No. 6 singles to claim the match.

"The team fought hard and competed well, but we came up a bit short," said Lilly. "Playing breakers in the third set made the match very exciting but we had won both of the second sets and had momentum. NSU played well and the credit goes to them for winning the bigger points today."

Norfolk State 4, Creighton 3
Mar 09, 2016 at Lakeland, Fla.

Singles competition

1. Ashley Ishimura (CU) def. Dajana Cvjetkovic (NORFOLK) 6-2, 6-3

2. Marta Gomar (NORFOLK) def. Darby Rosette (CU) 6-4, 2-6, 10-4

3. Katherine Nelsen (CU) def. Andrea Macchiavello (NORFOLK) 7-5, 6-3

4. Liza Gordeeva (NORFOLK) def. Claire Embree (CU) 6-1, 6-2

5. Ana Popovic (NORFOLK) def. Sam Anderson (CU) 6-3, 6-3

6. Mafalda Lhorca (NORFOLK) def. Karlin Naslund (CU) 6-1, 5-7, 10-3

Doubles competition

1. Ashley Ishimura/Darby Rosette (CU) def. Dajana Cvjetkovic/Ana Popovic (NORFOLK) 6-1

2. Claire Embree/Sam Anderson (CU) def. Mafalda Lhorca/Andrea Macchiavello (NORFOLK) 6-2

3. Marta Gomar/Liza Gordeeva (NORFOLK) def. Katherine Nelsen/Michaela Henne (CU) 6-2

Match Notes

Creighton 6-5

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

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Players Mentioned

Sam Anderson

Aaron Chalstrom

Quinn Dippel

Claire Embree

Jake Glazer

Michaela Henne

Ashley Ishimura

Brooks Kendall

Alex Koca

Harrison Lang

Karlin Naslund

Katherine Nelsen

August Nysted

Anthony Rauschenbach

Darby Rosette