Rachel Sutton prepares to return the ball. Sutton lost her individual match against Villanova. Photo courtesy of butlersports.com.

ASHLEY FULBRIGHT | STAFF REPORTER | afulbrig@butler.edu

The Butler University women’s tennis team was defeated by Villanova 5-2 on Friday, March 23.

“We fought hard in every single match,”head coach Tayo Bailey said. “Everyone’s putting into our matches the things that we’re practicing on in practice. It’s really that execution and steadiness in the end with this team. Everybody was competing well and it could have tilted our way in any of the matches. We just came up short.”

The Bulldogs went down early after Villanova took the doubles point.

Bailey Padgett and Jordan Minnick paired at the No. 1 doubles spot were the only Bulldogs to win their match in doubles play.

In singles play, Padgett defeated Lexi DeNucci of Villanova at the No. 1 singles position. Emily Neal won at the No. 3 position. Nina Bertino was defeated by Kaylan Rotman 6-1 and 7-5. Rachel Sutton, Lauren Marx and Carla O’Byrne all lost hard-fought matches.

The Bulldogs will return to play March 25 at Marquette to resume BIG EAST play. Butler is now 8-14 on the season and 1-2 in their conference.