MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – After winning its first eight matches of the season, the College of Saint Benedict tennis team picked up its first loss of 2018-19 Saturday, falling 8-1 to St. Kate's Saturday morning in a MIAC match at the U of M's Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
Two of the singles matches went three sets and one of the doubles matches went an extra set as CSB battled hard before falling to the Wildcats, who are now 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the MIAC. CSB is 8-1 and 1-1 in conference play.
"St. Kate's played really well today," head coach
Michael Engdahl said. "We had some points not go our way in doubles, and it was too deep of a hole for us to climb out of in singles. We competed hard and didn't give up, which really shows the character of the team. We knew it was going to be a tight match, and today they were just too good for us on key points."
The Wildcats won 8-5 at No. 1 doubles and 8-3 at No. 3 doubles. First year
Regan Dolezal got in on her first varsity doubles match, teaming up with
Mackenzie Schurhamer at the No. 3 spot. Juniors
Tessa Rahrick and
Erin Kolbow fought for every point at No. 2 doubles, but fell 8-7 (8-6).
First year
Lily Fredericks picked up CSB's lone win of the day at No. 3 singles, winning 6-4, 6-3 to remain undefeated on the year in singles play at 9-0.
Rahrick and
Kayla McIver both pushed their matches to three sets at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, but couldn't pull off the wins. Raharick fell 6-3, 0-6, 10-3 at No. 1 singles and McIver lost 3-6, 6-2, 10-5 at No. 2.
Kolbow fell 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 singles, Schurhamer lost 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 and
Karsen Aune fell 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles.
CSB returns to action Saturday, March 30, at noon when it takes on Hamline in Minneapolis. The team's first scheduled home match is Saturday, April 6, against Bethel.
