Creighton Bluejays Make Historic Run on the Courts

It was a record-setting year for the Creighton Bluejay tennis teams. The women’s team made it all the way to the finals of the Big East tournament, the men’s team had its first-ever national ranking and to top it all off, coach Tom LIlly was named Big East Coach of the Year. 

“Any award that a coach gets is credit to his/her team, and this is no different,” said Coach Lilly. “Both the men’s and women’s teams were fantastic to work with this year. Very low drama, hard working, good people. It was a pleasure to coach both.”

Lilly added that to receive this award with both teams was a special feeling of recognition of a lot of hard work. He also credits his wife Jean on the women’s side, and graduate assistant, Brady Draheim on the men’s side. His goal this year for the women’s team was to make it to the Big East tourney semifinals and then see what would happen. They surpassed that goal.

“After all the injuries and setbacks we had during the fall and spring, it was very exciting to get the #3 seed and then win the quarterfinals to get to the semis,” he said. “We knew we could compete with DePaul and hoped to make it into a match we could take from them. How it all happened, coming back from down 0-3 to win the remaining four singles matches was very emotional and exciting.” 

For Omaha native Kate Krueger, her last year as a Bluejay tennis player proved to be the most memorable, and she is so proud of the team and how hard they worked.

“We had been talking about making new strides at the Big East tournament since we stepped foot back on campus for the Fall 2022 season, and we really seemed to speak into existence,” she said. “The more we talked about it and practiced and played matches, we really began to believe that we belonged in the semifinal, finals, or even to win the tournament.”