Womens Tennis defeated Bradley 6-1 in the home match

OMAHA, Neb. The Creighton women’s tennis team opened the home stretch of its schedule with a 6-1 victory over former Missouri Valley Conference foe Bradley on Saturday afternoon at the Hanscom Tennis Center in Omaha.

The Bluejays improved to 4-0 with the win, while the Braves dropped to 1-1. It’s the first time since 1999 that the Bluejays have started the year 4-0. The Bluejays have also won their last eight games against the Braves.

Creighton got hot quickly and earned a double point for the first time this season. Junior Malvika Shukla and degree transfer Leanne Kendall took a 6-1 win at No. 1 singles, while the junior Bianca Rademacher and a sophomore Siri Kongara won an identical 6-1 doubles match on Court No. 3.

The Bluejays won the singles game overall with five straight sets.

Shukla beat Bradley’s Mariia Pukhina 6-0, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot to give Creighton a 2-0 lead in the match. Rademacher then won 6-0, 6-3 at No. 5 singles, moments before Kongara won the match with a 6-1, 6-2 straight-set win at No. 6 singles.

Bradley’s only win came at No. 4 singles when Maria Bezmenova knocked off Kendall 6-2, 6-3. However, the Bluejays responded with a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 2 singles. Valerie Negin5-1. Freshman Ana Paula Martinez closed out the match for the Bluejays with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 3.

“We played a good game today and I’m proud of how we stepped up this weekend to get two quality wins,” the head coach said. Tom Lilly. “We’re nowhere near as healthy as we’d hoped so far and we played both games without our top player, which makes this weekend’s effort that much more special.

Creighton returns to action on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at 12:30 p.m. when they take on Southwest Minnesota State at the Hanscom Tennis Center.

Creighton 6, Bradley 1
February 4, 2023 in Omaha, Neb. (Hanscom Tennis Center)