ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The ITA Midwest Regional Tournament always features some of the best tennis players from around the region, and gives athletes the chance to play top competition before their fall season ends. This past weekend, Lily Fredericks and her CSB teammates proved they belong in the mix with those top tennis players.
In her first time competing at the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament, Fredericks finished 2-1 in both singles and doubles play, and made it to Day 2 in the singles championship bracket. For her big weekend, Fredericks is this week’s CSB Athlete of the Week.
Prior to this past weekend, it had been two years since Saint Benedict had sent any athletes to the annual ITA Midwest Regional, and before that it had been another handful of years since CSB had attended. When Fredericks started play Friday afternoon, it had been more than a decade since CSB tennis had an athlete stay alive in the championship bracket after Day 1 of the three-day tournament, but Fredericks did just that.
Fredericks started her tournament run with a 6-0, 6-3 win against a Cornell opponent, then came back to beat a Bethel opponent 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. After becoming the first CSB tennis player to go 2-0 in singles play in at least the last decade, Fredericks found herself up against the tournament’s top seed – and eventual champion – and fell 6-2, 6-1 in what head coach Michael Engdahl called a ‘really good match.’
As well as finding success in singles play, Fredericks also had a solid weekend with doubles partner Tessa Rahrick. The duo went 2-0 in the consolation bracket with wins against a Coe team and a tandem from Central, and they won their section of the draw.
After the weekend, Fredericks is 4-1 in singles play and 4-2 in doubles play so far this fall season. She and her teammates have one week left of practice during their Fall 2019 season, and the team hosts both UW-Stout and Bemidji State Saturday, Sept. 28. CSB takes on Stout at 9 a.m. and Bemidji State at 3 p.m.
