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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (4/26/2015) -- The Titans had the early lead and then staged a late comeback, but it was just not enough as the University of Detroit Mercy women's tennis team fell, 4-2, in the Horizon League Championship to Youngstown State on Sunday afternoon. The event was held at the Schwartz Tennis Center on the campus of Purdue University. 

The Titans end their season at 16-9, a new school record for wins, as well as finishing 7-1 in league play, also a school record for conference victories. The runner-up effort is the third in school history as Detroit also reached the championship match in 2009 and 2010.

"I am very proud of these ladies," said head coach Pjotrs Necajevs '10. "They played a hard match and that was after playing so late yesterday. They played through some injuries and that hurt us today, but I couldn't ask any more of them then how hard they played today."

Detroit – the second seed in the HL Championship – came out determined to win its first title. UDM took two of the three matches in doubles against top-seeded Youngstown State (17-8), and that was after playing until 1:38 a.m., in the morning when it ousted third-seeded Cleveland State in the semifinals. 

UDM lost the first completed doubles match at No. 3, but stormed back to win the other two. Junior Irina Slizovskaya and sophomore Anna Davydova were victorious at No. 1, 6-3, over Marta Burak and Julianna Heino, while junior Nino Sujashvili and sophomore Viktoria Laskutova won at No. 2 by the same score over Annina Brendel and Nehel Sahni. 

In singles, Youngstown State – who was undefeated in the HL on the season at 8-0, including a 5-2 tally over Detroit back in late March – had the hot hand early posting straight-set wins at No. 1, 2 and 6.

Detroit got a bit closer to the title as Slizovskaya was able to hold off Sahni, 7-6 (5), 6-3, at No. 4, for the team's second point. 

"I think we are a very strong team, and I have felt that way since the start of the year," said Coach Necajevs. "They got us at some of the matches, but I was confident we were going to pull it out."

With the match at 3-2 in favor of the Penguins, just two singles were left as No. 3 and No. 5 went toe-to-toe. 

Playing next to each other on courts one and two, the Titans and Penguins went back and forth with Laskutova winning the first set at No. 5 and Davydova dropping the first at No. 3.

Davydova was able to even things up and force a third set at No. 3, and Laskutova lost her second set to also go into three. The lead went back and forth in that one, but the Titan fell short in a heartbreaking, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, affair as YSU garnered the fourth point it needed to win.

Davydova's match went unfinished at 6-2, 2-6, 3-3, meaning she ended the year on a 13-match winning streak and at 26-7 in singles, tying the school record for wins in a season with assistant coach Annie Moore '09 and Zeljka Minic '08. 

"It is very tough right now because I think we are the best team," said Coach Necajevs. "We played maybe the most exciting match I have ever been a part of yesterday and that is what I am most proud off, just the way we played today."

Detroit had three All-League players this season in freshman Sasha Nionova, Davydova and Kulikovskaya. Nionova was the HL Freshman of the Year and First Team All-HL, while Davydova and Kulikovskaya were Second Team selections.

UDM is set to return all seven players from this year's squad as the Titans had no seniors, three juniors, three sophomores and a freshman.