Results
The Blazers played beautifully on their home courts Sunday afternoon to go along with the sunny weather as they took on St. Catherine's Wildcats. The Blazers defeated their opponent by a score of 5-4.
After a tough loss to a very solid Carleton team the day before, the Blazers rebounded with a complete effort against a very strong St. Catherine's team. This was the closest match the Blazers endured all season as they fought for every point.
The Blazers gained two doubles points with matching 8-6 wins at spots one and three. At number one, the Blazers jumped out in front but every time Alyson Brandell (Elk River, MN, Elk River) and Sarah Rossman (Rochester, MN, Lourdes) would gain a little separation from their opponent, St. Catherine's would answer back. Brandell served out the match for the match with a score of 7-6. At number three doubles the Blazers traded leads all the way to 6-6, where Jamie Hoffman (Bemidji, MN, Bemidji) and AAlicia Vargas (Coon Rapids, MN, Coon Rapids) broke serve and won the match.
In singles play is where the match really began to increase in competition. The Blazers took a 3-1 lead due to a complete effort by Alicia Vargas at the six singles spot but St. Catherine's responded with a hard fought win at number two singles. Every game had long points and the match was much closer than the end score showed. St. Catherine's tied the match at 3-3 with a super breaker win at four singles.
Following, the Blazers took back the lead as Jamie Hoffman clinched a come from behind victory at five singles. After dropping the first set 6-2, Jamie fought back and pushed the match to a super tie breaker. She gained the momentum early, carrying over from her second set victory and never looked back. With two matches left on the court the Blazers needed one more point. Aly Brandell and Sarah Rossman were each heading to super breakers to decide their matches. Brandell won the deciding point for the Blazers with a 12-10 win. She had match points at 9-8 and 10-9, but her opponent played two outstanding points to avoid elimination. Finally, at 11-10, Brandell won the team's winning point off a strong forehand groundstroke. Shortly after Brandell won the match, Rossman lost her superbreaker 10-5, making the final score 5-4. The competitiveness of the match shows as four out of the six singles matches were settled in super breakers.
With the win the Blazers have a chance to finish in the 3rd place if they should defeat Hamline on Friday Apr. 27th on their home courts at 4 p.m. A third place finish would be the highest MIAC finish for this group of seniors.
