Box Score

The Detroit Titans women's tennis team will play for their first conference championship in school history as UDM took out No. 2 Butler, 4-3, in the semi-finals of the Horizon League Tournament on Saturday afternoon at North Central High School in Indianapolis.

The match was the second in a row for No. 3 Detroit, who had a first-round bye on Friday and defeated No. 6 Milwaukee, 4-0, earlier in the day.

With the match squared away at 3 apiece, senior and two-time All-Horizon League selection Zeljka Minic (Zagreb, Croatia/Sport) rebounded from dropping her first set to win her match at No. 2 singles 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3, to catapult Detroit into Sunday's championship event against UIC.

“Our team fought really hard,” said Minic. “Our matches against Butler are always hard fought, and we were thrilled to come out on top. The team is so excited to play against UIC in the championship match. I could say so many things about the match, but we have to focus on getting ready for tomorrow.”

The contest with Butler started with UDM earning the doubles point as junior Svetana Flankova (Riga, Latvia/Riga Secondary 21) and freshman Sophie Sjoberg-Sundstrom (Gothenburg, Sweden/Katrinelunds Gymnasiet) defeated Gabriella Bobrowski and Natali Jaimes, 8-3, at No. 2.

The point-clinching match then came from senior Aneta Maricevic (Hamilton, ONT/Glendale Secondary) and sophomore Erin Weldon (Kalamazoo, MI/Mattawan), who posted an 8-4 victory in the No. 3 position over Cam Thompson and Ashley Britenbach.

The contest moved into singles play with four of the six matches going three sets. Welden started the Titans' tally cruising past Britenbach 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6. With UDM falling at No. 1,3 and 4, Sundstrom was able to pick up Detroit's third team point with a come from behind win of her own taking her match against Thompson 2-6, 6-3, 6-0. 

The Titans improved their record win total to 15 and take a 15-7 ledger into tomorrow's match against UIC, who will be looking for their 12th-straight HL championship.

The UDM-UIC contest will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the event featured live on the Horizon League Network. To view the match, visit the Horizon League Network by clicking here.