Women’s Tennis

The Marquette women retained an early lead against the Illinois-Chicago Jaguars Sunday afternoon at Helfaer Tennis Stadium and finished off their opponent 4-3.

Marquette pulled ahead early, 1-0, after winning all three doubles matches to start the day.

Senior pair Christina Ruiz and Rachael Hush grabbed the No. 1 position over Elisa Simonetti and Teona Tsertsvadze (9-8, 8-4). Duo junior Paola Calderon and freshman Rocio Diaz took No. 2 position Mariya Kovaleva and Linda Hricistova (9-8, 7-2), and junior Gillian Hush matched with freshman Chelsea Utting to finish doubles play at the No. 3 position  over Jane Knoppe and Ilinca Cristescu (9-7).

After falling behind 3-2 to the Jaguars, Marquette turned up its offensive game to rally two consecutive points for the win.

Junior Olga Fischer played three aggressive sets to finally break Simonetti (5-7, 6-3, 6-3) and start the team’s season off with a win.

Also winning for the Golden Eagles in singles play was Gillian Hush over Knoppe (6-3, 6-4) – adding to last year’s singles record of 27-12 – along with Ruiz over Kathryn Sharples (6-1, 7-6, 9-7).

The women next travel to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday to face Purdue for their second match of the season.

Men’s Tennis

The men’s team rallied unsuccessfully ending with a 6-1 loss against the Minnesota Gophers Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis, Minn. The men faced stiff competition and lost all three opening doubles matches to send No. 33 Minnesota off to an early 1-0 lead over Marquette.

Freshman Dan Mamalat held out for the men’s solo point with a singles win (6-3, 6-1) over Phillip Arndt.

Minnesota sealed its win by gaining the next three points during singles play defeating junior Jonathan Schwerin (6-3, 6-0), senior Jose Manuel Munoz (6-0, 6-2) and junior Drake Kaker (6-3, 6-4).

The men return home to Helfaer Tennis Stadium on Saturday looking for redemption against Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and later Chicago State.