Participating in the NCAA Tournament in Lubbock, Texas, the No. 44 DU women’s tennis team made conference history by becoming the first Summit League women’s tennis team to advance past the tournament’s first round. The Pioneers downed No. 25 University of Southern California 4-2 on May 12 before being knocked out of the tournament by No. 7 Texas Tech University on May 13.

The underdog Pioneers fell down 2-0 early to the Trojans after losing the doubles point and the first singles competition. The comeback was initiated by redshirt sophomore Arisha Ladhani (West Vancouver, British Columbia), who won her singles match 6-2, 6-1.

Senior and Summit League Player of the Year Maureen Slattery (Newport News, Virginia) was able to bring the competition back to even at 2-2 after downing her opponent, No. 25 Gabby Smith, 6-2, 6-2.

DU earned a 3-2 lead after senior Sonja Radosevic (Miami, Florida) defeated her opponent. Completing the team’s comeback and securing the victory, sophomore Bianca Mok (Boise, Idaho) won her singles competition in the No. 3 spot. Despite falling down 2-6 in the first set, Mok battled back (6-4, 7-6 (7-4)) and won the first round-clinching point for the Pioneers, advancing them to the second round for only the second time in program history and the first time since 2008.

Denver’s Cinderella magic ran out in the second round, running into a fantastically talented Texas Tech team. The No. 17 duo of junior Julia O’Loughlin (Highland Beach, Florida) and Slattery won the first doubles match, but DU was unable to pull out the doubles point as the Red Raiders took the other two matches.

Mok earned DU’s only point on the day, securing a singles competition win versus Alex Valenstein (7-5, 6-3), capping a fantastic weekend for the second-year collegiate athlete.

O’Loughlin, Ladhani and junior Gracia Mboko (Burlington, Ontario) were defeated in their competitions, giving the Red Raiders the 4-1 victory.

The 2016-17 season concluded with an exciting trip to the NCAA Tournament for the women’s team, one in which they can build off of heading into next season. The Pioneers will graduate Slattery, Radosevic and Morgan Barnhill (Austin, Texas) but will hope that the continued progression and growth of younger players can help fill their void next year after a wildly successful campaign this season.