Antunovic and Gambrell Set New DePaul Standards
10/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S TENNIS
EAST LANSING, Mich. Dunja Antunovic and Kirsten Gambrell set new standards for the DePaul women’s tennis team by becoming the first doubles pair in program history to advance to the championship match of the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships. The championships feature the top players from Division 1 schools in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin in an invite-only bracket style tournament.
Antunovic and Gambrell eliminated the No. 1 and No. 7 tournament seeds to earn a berth in the championships, notably defeating No. 7 (ITA Rankings) Lauren Lui and Georgia Rose, 8-5, in the semifinal round.
The Blue Demon duo went head-to-head with BIG EAST Conference rival Notre Dame’s Kelcy Tefft and Kristy Frilling. Tefft acquired a preseason ranking of No. 25, while the pair was seeded No. 2 in the tournament. After going point for point with the Fighting Irish duo, Antunovic and Gambrell settled for second place by a score of 8-5.
Antunovic continued to set new precedence for DePaul, advancing to the semifinal round in the main singles draw. The senior improved to 3-0 against ranked opponents after knocking off No. 98 Kali Krisik of Notre Dame, 6-4, 6-2.
Tefft, who holds a singles ranking of No. 43 and was seeded fifth, met up with Antunovic for the second time on day five of competition. After dropping the first set, the Blue Demon bowed out in the second, loosing both sets by a score of 6-2.
Despite the losses, Coach Mark Ardizzone was pleased with how the tournament played out. “The girls played great tennis. We’ve never had anyone make the doubles final or the singles semis before, so it was a successful weekend. Kirsten and Dunja played real well. Unfortunately, Notre Dame just played a little bit better.”
DePaul makes their fourth and final stop of the fall season on Nov. 7-9 at the Hoosier Invitational in Bloomington, Ind.