CAYCE, S.C. – The higher seeds advanced on Thursday at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center after the first round of the women’s competition in the 2021 BIG EAST Tennis Championship Presented by JEEP. No. 6 seed Creighton, No. 7 seed Butler and No. 8 seed Marquette each defeated their competition by the same score, 4-0, to move on to Friday’s women’s quarterfinal competition.
 
Creighton shutout No. 11 seed Providence winning the doubles point with the teams of Kate Krueger and Sarah Wilcox and Erin Epperson and Malkiva Shukla, winning 6-2, 6-1, respectively. The doubles matches finishes simultaneously. Bluejay Meredith Benson finished first in her singles match against Friar Emmie Lindholm, winning in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 in flight No. 6. Shukla won her match at No. 3 singles, defeating PC’s Katie Mulvey, 6-3, 6-3. CU senior Joanna Nowakowski closed out the sweep with a win in No. 4 singles, 6-2, 6-4 over Friar Mimi Dailey.
 
Creighton is now 10-5 on the season and will take on third-seeded Villanova in the women’s quarterfinals. Providence falls to 2-10.
 
Butler moved on with a 4-0 win over No. 10 seed Seton Hall. The Bulldogs started the match with a slight advantage, winning the No. 3 doubles flight, along with the No. 5 and No. 6 singles by default. Butler built on that advantage in doubles as Natalie Boesing and Lauren Marx won at the No. 1 flight to take the first point of the match. With two singles defaults, the Bulldogs went up 3-0, needing just one win between four individual flights to secure the match. Freshman Delaney Schurhamer wasted no time securing the clincher, posting impressive 6-1 wins in straight sets.
 
Butler moves to 6-9 overall and will take on the second-seeded DePaul in the women’s quarterfinals. Seton Hall falls to 1-8.
 
Marquette advanced with a sweep of No. 9 Georgetown. The Hoyas, like the Pirates, came into the match short-handed and the Golden Eagles claimed default wins at No. 3 doubles and No. 6 singles. MU clinched the doubles point with a win at the No. 1 position by Natalija Popovic and Guilia Turconi, 6-4. Marquette Redshirt sophomore Elisabeth Desmarais earned the first singles point for the Golden Eagles with two 6-1 wins in straight sets. Teammate Emma Kojcic won at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 6-3 to secure the win.
 
Marquette advanced to 6-7 on the season and will take on top-seeded Xavier in the women’s quarterfinals. Georgetown, which began its season April 9, fell to 1-2 on the 2021 season.
 
Quarterfinal action gets going at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center at 9 a.m. ET on Friday with three women’s matches: No. 1 Xavier vs. No. 8 Marquette, No. 2 DePaul vs. No. 7 Butler and No. 3 Villanova vs. No. 6 Creighton. The fourth women’s quarterfinal match, No. 4 St. John’s vs. No. 5 UConn will start alongside the men’s quarterfinals at 1 p.m. approximately.
 
The men’s side of the championship gets started with two matches at approximately 1 p.m. and two matches at 5 p.m. No. 1 DePaul will face No. 8 Georgetown and No. 2 St. John’s will play No. 7 Xavier in the first quarterfinal matches, followed by No. 3 Marquette vs. No. 6 Villanova and No. 4 Butler vs. No. 5 Creighton.
 
2021 BIG EAST Men's and Women's Tennis Championships Schedule & Results
Thursday, April 22
Women's First Round
10 a.m.               Match #1 - No. 8  Marquette 4, No. 9 Georgetown 0
                            Match #2 - No. 7 Butler 4, No. 10 Seton Hall 0
                            Match #3 - No. 6 Creighton 4, No. 11 Providence 0
 
Friday, April 23
Women's Quarterfinal
9 a.m.      Match #4 - No. 1 Xavier vs. No. 8 Marquette
                Match #5 - No. 2 DePaul vs. No. 7 Butler
                Match #6 - No. 3 Villanova vs. No. 6 Creighton
1 p.m. ^    Match #7 - No. 4 St. John's vs. No. 5 UConn
 
Men's Quarterfinal
1 p.m. ^    Match #1 - No. 1 DePaul vs. No. 8 Georgetown
                 Match #2 - No. 2 St. John's vs. No. 7 Xavier
5 p.m. ^    Match #3 - No. 3 Marquette vs. No. 6 Villanova
                 Match #4 - No. 4 Butler vs. No. 5 Creighton
 
Saturday,  April 24
Women's Semifinal
9 a.m.       Match #8 - Winners of Matches #4 and #7
                 Match #9 - Winners of Matches #5 and #6
 
Men's Semifinal
1 p.m. ^    Match #5 - Winners of Matches #1 and #4
                  Match #6 - Winners of Matches #2 and #3
 
Sunday,  April 25
Women's Championship
9 a.m.      Semifinal Winners         
 
Men's Championship
1 p.m. ^     Semifinal Winners         
 
 
 *Match times may be adjusted based on weather/heat considerations.
**Rain date set for April 26
^ no sooner than. Times may be adjusted based on court availability for warmups.