DePaul University
St. John's
Women's Tennis Falls in BIG EAST Title Match
4/29/2018 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S TENNIS
CAYCE, S.C. - Faced with one final uphill challenge in a season characterized by overcoming adversity, DePaul came up a little short on Sunday.
The Blue Demons fell behind early, staged their accustomed rally only to see No. 1 seed St. John's prevail 4-2 in the BIG EAST Women's Tennis Championship title match.
That denied DePaul (10-11) a chance to repeat as conference champion in its bid to secure a fourth title in the last five years.
St. John's (17-5) claims the automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Mark Ardizzone's team dropped two doubles matches to fall behind 1-0 at the Cayce Tennis & Fitness Center.
Marija Jovicic tied it up 1-1 after knocking off Zofia Stanisz 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 singles.
The Red Storm picked up wins at No. 6 and No. 1 singles to come within a point of claiming the title.
Aspasia Avgeri was having nothing of it, defeating Jaide Collins 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3 singles in bringing the Blue Demons within 3-2.
At No. 2 singles, senior Patricia Lancranjan left it all on the court in the final match of her stellar career, looking to draw even. She lost the first set and then fell 7-6 (7-5) to Olaya Inclan Solis.
Lancranjan finished up winning 11 of the final 13 matches of her career and walked off a collegiate court for the final time with a career record of 73-46 including 53-28 in dual matches. She was 16-6 overall as a senior and 14-4 in the dual season.
Sophomore Avgeri wound up going 12-5 in dual matches and 15-12 overall. Freshman Jovicic was 11-7 in the spring and 16-14 overall. Her classmate Kuzmenkova, who racked up the winning point in Saturday's 4-2 win over Marquette, was 8-4 in duals and 15-10 overall.
St. John's 4, DePaul 2
Singles
1. Jessica Livianu (SJ) def. Keisha Clousing (DPU) 6-1, 6-2
2. Olaya Inclan Solis (SJ) def. Patricia Lancranjan (DPU) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
3. Aspasia Avgeri (DPU) def. Jaide Collins (SJ) 6-2, 6-2
4. Marija Jovicic (DPU) def. Zofia Stanisz (SJ) 6-0, 6-1
5. Irina Preotescu (SJ) vs. Alina Kuzmenkova (DPU) 7-6 (7-4), 2-1 (DNF)
6. Kajsa Stegrell (SJ) def. Milica Tesic (DPU) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles
1. Livianu/Stanisz (SJ) def. Clousing/Lancranjan (DPU) 6-4
2. Inclan Solis/Preotescu (SJ) def. Jovicic/Kuzmenkova (DPU) 6-2
3. Stegrell/Collins (SJ) def. Tesic/Avgeri (DPU) 6-5 (DNF)
Players Mentioned
