ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – As has been the case much of the season, the College of Saint Benedict tennis team was right their with the team's opponent Saturday afternoon, but came up just short.
 
The Bennies won a trio of extra-set or tiebreaker matches, but lost one extra-set match and several close matches in a 6-3 loss to St. Olaf Saturday at the CSB tennis courts.
 
"You can't knock their group for the way we fight," head coach Michael Engdahl said. "Everyone did a great job fighting from the start of the match all the way to the end. We just have too many small mistakes at big moments that are costing us matches. The good news is it's only a matter of time before those get corrected and we change the score around."
 
Grace Lee and Maria Bedford got the Bennies on the board in doubles play with a tiebreaker win. After holding on for an 8-7 win, the duo also picked up a 7-2 tiebreaker win at No. 3 doubles to get CSB within 2-1. Kayla McIver and Lily Fredericks fell 8-4 at No. 1 doubles and Peyton Kopel and Jane Bodensteiner lost 8-6 at No. 2 doubles.
 
Fredericks and Lee both picked up extra-set wins in singles play to keep the team's chances of winning alive, but it wasn't enough. Both athletes won their first set, then had to fight through a third set after their Ole opponent won set two. Fredericks won 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 at No. 2 singles and Lee won 6-2, 2-6, 10-4 at No. 6 singles.
 
McIver fell 6-3, 6-2 at No. 1 singles and Kopel lost 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3 singles. Bodensteiner lost 6-2, 6-4 at No. 4 singles, and Bedford lost in extra sets 3-6, 6-2, 10-8.
 
CSB is now 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the MIAC with one match remaining in the regular season. The Bennies host Hamline at 4 p.m. Friday, April 30, in St. Joseph.