ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict tennis team picked up a split in a pair of MIAC matches Sunday afternoon to wrap up its marathon weekend.
CSB started the day with a 5-4, come-from-behind win against Saint Mary's that came down to a super breaker, and wrapped up the weekend with an 8-1 loss to Carleton. Saint Benedict completed the weekend 2-3 and is now 12-8 overall and 3-5 in MIAC play. With two conference matches left on its schedule, CSB is tied for eighth in the league.
"We took a monster step forward with our program this weekend," head coach
Michael Engdahl said. "It was our goal to play the best tennis we can when it matters most, and we did just that in every match. We have gone through so much adversity over the last six weeks, and to put that behind us and keep our playoff hopes alive shows how bad our players want it."
Saint Benedict started Sunday in Winona where it picked up a huge win against Saint Mary's – a team that swept CSB last season.
Ellen Stensrud and
Mackenzie Schurhamer won 8-5 at No. 2 doubles and
Erin Kolbow and
Lauren Clark won 8-4 at No. 3 doubles to put CSB up 2-1 heading into singles play.
The Cardinals won at No. 3, 4 and 5 singles to put SMU up 4-2, but
Tessa Rahrick picked up a win in a tiebreaker 2-6, 7-5, 10-5 and
Gabbie Noack picked up a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles to tie the match at 4-4. Kolbow's match at No. 2 singles ended up being the deciding factor, and she came through with a super breaker win to give CSB the victory. She won 6-2, 7-6(7-3) to seal the match.
In the team's second match of the day – and fifth and final of the weekend – CSB fell 8-1 to Carleton.
Kayla McIver picked up the team's lone win, a 7-6, 7-6 victory at No. 4 singles. Kolbow and Clark pushed their match to the limit at No. 3 doubles before falling 9-7.
Saint Benedict wraps up the regular season with a pair of matches this weekend. CSB hosts St. Kate's at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 27, at the CSB tennis courts in a makeup match from earlier this spring, then hits the road Saturday for an 11 a.m. match at St. Olaf.
