By Xavier Bleuel–

The University of Louisville women's tennis tam defeated DePaul to secure an undefeated regular season.

The University of Louisville women’s tennis tam defeated DePaul to secure an undefeated regular season.

The University of Louisville women’s tennis team escaped a close call by DePaul on Sunday, April 14 at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center to maintain its unblemished record at home with a 4-3 win in the season finale.

“This was a great win. The best win of the year,” said U of L head coach Mark Beckham. “For it to be the most important match this season too, well, I just can’t say enough about this team. We are not a team that makes excuses, but we are playing through some injuries. Yet, we are still able to compete and win against some really good teams.”

Beckham hopes this win will be a stepping stone into the Big East Championships in Tampa, Fla.

“Hopefully this win will get us the highest seed possible,” said Beckham. “We want to be positioned to move as far as we can in tournament play.”

The Cardinals, the third seed, will be chasing the number one seed Fighting Irish of Notre Dame and the second seed South Florida Bulls, who are hosting the tournament on their home campus.

U of L, with a record of 15-7, took the doubles point as the pair of Mandy Brown and Manuela Vasquez paired to win at No. 3 with an 8-6 win over Zaina Sufi and Jarret Fisher. The No. 1 pair of Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine pulled out an 8-5 win over Matea Cutura and Ana Vladutu to win the point.

As the Cardinals moved to singles, No. 6 singles player Becky Bodine won 6-0, 6-1 over Zaina Sufi to put U of L up 2-0. Julia Fellerhoff took the top match at No. 1 with an 8-5 win over Cutura. The Blue Demons were not done, though, as they took the No. 4 and No. 5 slots, leaving Velasquez and Shine to battle for the clinching point. The sophomore from Kew Gardens, N.Y. won the first set 7-5 and then, after being tied at three points in the second.

In other exciting news, Fellerhoff was named Big East Player of the Week in women’s tennis during the 13th weekly awards of the spring 2013 season.

Fellerhoff went 2-0 at No. 1 single and 2-0 at No. 1 doubles to help the Cardinals defeat the Golden Eagels of Marquette (5-2) and the Blue Demons of DePaul (4-3). The junior beat Ana Pimienta of Marquette 5-7, 6-4, 10-4 and No. 84 Cutura of DePaul 6-4, 6-3. Fellerhoff was paired with Shine in doubles and they swept Aina Hernandez Soler and Ali Dawson of Marquette 8-0 and defeated Cutura and Vladutu of DePaul 8-4.

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Photo by Austin Lassell/The Louisville Cardinal