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vs. Omaha OR North Dakota
4/25/2026 | 9 a.m. MT
Apr. 25 (Sat) / 9 a.m. MT
vs. Omaha OR North Dakota
TULSA, Oklahoma – The No. 66-ranked University of Denver women’s tennis team (15-7, 6-0 Summit) used its sixth sweep of the year to move into the Summit League final during the Summit League semifinals at the Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday morning.
No. 1 seed Denver posted a 4-0 win over No. 4 seed Oral Roberts, booking its place in a 12th consecutive Summit League title match. DU has won the last 11 Summit League championships.
Denver will await the winner of the day’s second semifinal between No. 2 seed Omaha and No. 3 seed North Dakota, which is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT.
Doubles:
DU jumped out to a 1-0 lead after dropping just three combined games in the two completed doubles matches. Seniors Claudia Martinez de Velasco and Louise Wikander got Denver halfway to the doubles point with a 6-2 win from the No. 2 spot, the duo’s third consecutive win and extended their unbeaten streak to five. ORU’s Cervantes/Noor held to open the match before the Denver team won three consecutive games to take a 3-1 lead. Martinez de Velasco/Wikander added a second break to grab a 5-2 advantage before serving it out.
Denver’s No. 3 team of senior Zoe Adkins and sophomore Natálie Cinková clinched the point – their second such time doing so this season – with a 6-1 victory. ORU’s Deer/Perez Ortega won what would be their own game for a 1-0 before the two Pioneers rattled off six consecutive games to claim the match.
At No. 1 doubles, senior Marley Lambert and freshman Yunfei Cai were in a back-and-forth affair, exchanging breaks midway through the match and sitting on serve at 3-4 when the match was abandoned.
Singles:
Denver claimed all six first sets in singles on its way to clinching the dual after about 75 minutes of play. Summit League Player of the Year Wikander started things off without losing a game, posting the third double bagel of her NCAA career but her first from the No. 1 singles position. Wikander had finished her match before two of the remaining singles matches had even finished their first set.
Cai, this year’s Summit League Newcomer of the Year, gave Denver a 3-0 lead overall with a 6-2 6-1 result at No. 5 singles. She broke for the first time to go ahead, 2-1, in the first set before closing out the frame with four consecutive games won. Oral Roberts’ Natalia Perez Ortega held to open the second set, but Cai responded with another win streak, this time with six consecutive games to finish off the match. The freshman has now lost three or fewer games in a singles match nine times during the 2026 dual season.
Cinková had the clinching point for Denver for the fourth time this season, taking the No. 3 match at 6-2 6-3. After going down a break in her first service game, the DU sophomore responded with a six-game win streak to close the first set. She carried that momentum into the start of the second set, winning five of the first six games and leading 5-2 with a chance to serve out the match. ORU’s Cassie Cervantes stayed alive with a break, getting to 5-3 before Cinková settled back in and closed it out in the ninth game of the set.
Lambert was within a game of winning the No. 2 match. Twice, she used a three-game win streak on her way to a 6-2 first set and again won three in a row during the second set, holding a 5-3 advantage when Cinkováa clinched the dual.
At No. 6 singles, Martinez de Velasco broke three total times on the way to a 6-4 win in the first set and had just broken for a 3-1 lead in the second set when her match was abandoned.
Adkins withstood a late surge from ORU’s Annelise Deer to also take her first at 6-4. She, too, was four games into her second set and had just broken back to level things at 2-2 when Denver had secured the match, leaving play on her court unfinished.
Up Next:
The No. 66-ranked University of Denver women’s tennis team will play for the Summit League championship against either Omaha or North Dakota in the Summit League final on Saturday, April 25, at 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT.