Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS – Behind a collective team effort, the Detroit women's tennis squad earned third place at the Horizon League Championship with a 4-2 victory over Butler at North Central High School.

The win moved Detroit to 6-18 on the year as the Titans got some revenge on the Bulldogs, who beat the red, white and blue at home earlier in the year, 7-0.

UDM needed a comeback effort to win the doubles point as the Bulldogs claimed the first match at No. 2. Detroit then saw senior Erin Weldon (Kalamazoo, MI/Mattawan) – who ended her career as UDM's all-time doubles winner with 66 wins - and freshman Julia Fernandes (Mississauga, ON/John Fraser) down Butler's tandem at No. 3, 8-4, setting up a classic showdown at the top spot.

It was all up to junior Amanda Cornwell (Waterford, MI/Kettering) and sophomore Carolina Salas Espinosa (Monterrey, Mexico/Preparatoria No. 7) to get Detroit on the board and the Titan duo did just that outlasting BU's Angelina Qin and Gabrielle Rubenstein in a thrilling tiebreaker, 9-8 (8).

With the excitement of winning the doubles point behind them, the Titans turned to their attention to singles as Espinosa defeated Steph McLoughlin at No. 2, 6-2, 6-2, while freshman Raina Halabi (Beamsville, ON/Niagara Academy of Tennis) swept Qin at No. 5, 7-5, 6-1.

With Butler winning at No. 2 and No. 3, Detroit needed just one more singles match to clinch the victory and it got that triumph from Fernandes at No. 4, as the rookie thwarted Cam Thompson in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 10-4.

Weldon and Fernandes finished the year winning three of their last five matches together pairing up in the No. 3 position. They won six of their last 10 matches and the duo combined for four Horizon League wins.

The victory gave Detroit third place at the league tournament, the third-straight year that the Titans have ended their season in the top three.