April 13, 2007

MILWAUKEE - Despite getting singles wins from senior Dominika Dabrowski and junior Shannon Brown, the Marquette women's tennis team could not overcome losing the doubles point and fell 4-3 to BIG EAST Conference foe DePaul Friday evening at the Helfaer Tennis Stadium. With the loss, the Golden Eagles drop to 11-13 overall and 4-2 in conference play.

"This one hurts," said head coach Jody Bronson. "It wasn't that we weren't prepared or that we didn't play hard, we just didn't play smart. I thought we put forth a great effort today, but give credit to DePaul. They stepped up and took it to us. Now we must regroup and look ahead to the conference tournament."

After a highly contested doubles competition, the Golden Eagles were unable to get ahead. The no. 3 doubles duo of senior Francina Bonnelly and junior Erin Watkins were the only tandem to earn a doubles victory with an 8-0 shut out of their DePaul counterpart. The no. 1 doubles team of junior Maria Calbeto and sophomore Lauren Little, and the no. 2 doubles team Brown and sophomore Robin Metzler each fell 8-6 leaving the Blue Demons to take an early 1-0 lead.

Marquette quickly evened the score thanks to DePaul forfeiting at no. 6 singles. The Golden Eagles then went ahead 2-1 when Dabrowski hastily put away Clare Chmiel, 6-1, 6-0, at no. 5 singles.

However, the Blue Demons countered and re-tied the score 2-2 after Watkins fell in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, to no. 88 Dunja Antunovic at the top singles slot.

Brown took down Bojana Murisic, 6-1, 6-2 at no. 4 singles giving Marquette hope with a 3-2 lead. Yet Brown's 13th straight win of the season would be the last point the Golden Eagles would gather as DePaul took no. 2 and no. 3 singles in succession to secure the 4-3 win.

DePaul 4, Marquette 3

Singles competition
1. #88 Antunovic, Dunja (DEP) def. Watkins, Erin (MARQ) 6-1, 6-1
2. Gambrell, Kirsten (DEP) def. Calbeto, Maria (MARQ) 6-1, 6-3
3. Mihaldinec, Anja (DEP) def. Metzler, Robin (MARQ) 7-5, 6-2
4. Brown, Shannon (MARQ) def. Murisic, Bojana (DEP) 6-1, 6-2
5. Dabrowski, Dominika (MARQ) def. Chmiel, Clare (DEP) 6-1, 6-0
6. DePaul Forfeit

Doubles competition
1. Mihaldinec, Anja/Antunovic, Dunja (DEP) def. CALBETO, Maria/LITTLE, Lauren (MARQ) 8-6
2. Gambrell, Kirsten/Rehusova, Petra (DEP) def. METZLER, Robin/BROWN, Shannon (MARQ) 8-6
3. WATKINS, Erin/BONNELLY, Francina (MARQ) def. Chmiel, Clare/Murisic, Bojana (DEP) 8-0