The Butler women’s tennis team, coming off a loss versus UIC in the final match of the regular season, entered the first round of the Horizon League Championship Tournament as the No. 3 seed.

The Bulldogs (15-10, 7-4 HL) finished fourth in the tournament after falling to Detroit in their third match, 4-2.

After losing 2-1 in doubles play against the Titans (8-26, 8-6 HL), Butler bounced back in singles play.

The Bulldogs picked up wins from senior Natali Jaimes (6-3, 6-0) and sophomore Brittany Farmer (7-5. 6-2).

Butler was able to hang with Detroit until the No. 5 singles match, when Detroit freshman Raina Halabi sealed the victory for the Titans with a win over Butler freshman Angelina Qin, 7-5, 6-1.

In the Bulldogs’ second round match versus Cleveland State, the Vikings (14-13, 8-2 HL) overcame a 2-1 loss in doubles play to topple Butler, 4-1.

At No. 1 doubles, freshmen Stephanie McLoughlin and Gabrielle Rubenstein picked up a 9-8 victory to move the Bulldogs in the right direction.

After Farmer and senior Gabriela Bobrowski won at No. 2 doubles, Cleveland State dominated play, winning at No. 3 doubles and sweeping singles play.

The No. 1  and No. 2 singles matches, however, were tightly contested.

In the No. 1 match, Jaimes fell in the first set against junior Catrine Bjerrehus, 6-2, but evened up the match in the second set by winning 6-4.

The tiebreaker ended with a loss for Jaimes, as Bjerrehus grabbed a 7-6 advantage to win the match.

At No. 2 singles, freshman Caroline Hedrick split the first two sets against freshman Alex Bush.

The match’s tiebreaker was stopped at  3-3, as Cleveland State had already done enough to defeat the Bulldogs.

In the opening round of the tournament, Butler recovered from its regular season-ending loss against UIC by dominating No. 6 Milwaukee.

The Bulldogs started off by sweeping doubles play against the Panthers (11-11, 3-7 HL).

Momentum stayed in Butler’s corner throughout singles play. All-Horizon Leaguer Jaimes rolled over Milwaukee sophomore Kelly Fritz at No. 1 singles, 6-1, 6-0.

At No. 5 singles, Rubenstein made quick work of sophomore Beth Ganzer, 6-2, 6-2, to give the Bulldogs their second singles point.

Farmer closed out the match by coming out on top against freshman Mary Ellen Donovan, 6-0, 6-2, at No. 6 singles.

After Butler’s third victory in singles play, the remaining singles matches were called off and the Bulldogs won, 4-0.

Butler finished the season with 15 wins, five more than the team’s total from last season.

The Bulldogs’ regular season mark against Horizon League opponents also improved from last season, as Butler gained two more conference victories this year.

The Bulldogs will return a strong core next season, including Hedrick, McLoughlin, Rubenstein and Farmer.