ST. JOSEPH, Minn. –The College of Saint Benedict Tennis Team (3-2, 1-0 MIAC), which finished 2-2 on a spring break road trip, returns to MIAC play with three matches this weekend. The Bennies open with St. Catherine on the road on Friday, March 17, before hosting St. Olaf and Saint Mary's on March 18-19 at 3 p.m. at Sartell, Minn. The road matchup at St. Catherine is set for 6:30 p.m. with the home matches both starting at 3 p.m. at Sta-Fit.

Breaking Down St. Catherine, St. Olaf, and St. Mary's 
St. Catherine, coached by Megan Gunderson has opened at 2-3 overall and 1-2 in MIAC play. In the all-time series, CSB owns a 19-15 overall previous historic record against St. Kate's, with a 9-7 home record and a 7-7 away. After the road match at St. Catherine, CSB hosts St. Olaf on Saturday, March 18. The Oles, directed by head coach Scott Nesbit, have a 3-3 overall record, including 3-2 in league play. In the all-time series, CSB stands 8-25 against the Oles. CSB's record against St. Olaf includes a 4-12 home mark with a 2-10 record on the road. Saint Mary's, directed by head coach Jeff Halberg, stands 5-5 overall with a 0-3 conference mark. In the all-time series CSB leads 24-5, with a 13-3 home record and a 10-2 away mark.  

Bennies open the season with three wins in five matches 
The Bennies started the spring campaign with a 9-0 MIAC decision over St. Scholastica (1-3, 0-2 MIAC) on Feb. 18 at Sta-Fit in Sartell, Minn.  On a spring break road trip, CSB finished 2-2 as they earned a 6-3 win over Misericordia on March 6 and a 7-2 decision against Covenant College (Ga.) to move to 3-0. Then, they took a 7-2 loss to Piedmont on March 9 and a 4-3 setback to NCAA DII Cedarville on March 10.

Bedford named MIACTennis Player of the Week on Mar. 13 
After opening 5-0 this season, senior Maria Bedford of the College of Saint Benedict Tennis Team was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Week, according to an announcement today (March 13) by the league office. In 2022-23, Bedford has compiled a 5-0 record in singles, including four straight singles win during the Bennies trip to Florida March 6-10. She is 4-0 at No. 5 singles and 1-0 at No. 6 singles. For the fifth time this year and all four matches in Florida, she won in straight sets. She was also 3-1 in doubles in Florida, which included a 6-4 decision (with Jane Bodensteiner) at No. 2 vs DII Cedarville. She is now 4-1 at No. 2 doubles (Jane Bodensteiner). In her career, she is now 17-7 in singles and 29-12 in doubles. 

Player Notes
Sophomore from St. Cloud, Minn., Ashley Tarrolly is 1-0 at No. 1 singles. At No. 1 doubles, she has teamed with Peyton Kopel to go 1-0 and at No. 3 with Brooke Tonnessen with another 1-0 record.  

Greta Nesbit, a sophomore from Le Sueur, Minn., is 1-3 at No. 2 singles with a 1-0 MIAC record at No. 3 singles. In doubles play, she has a 3-1 record with three different teammates.  At No. 3 doubles, she has teamed with Tonnessen to go 1-1. At No. 2 doubles, she has a 1-0 record with Anne Bowe and is 1-0 with Peyton Kopel at No. 1.   
 
This season, junior Peyton Kopel has a 3-2 record, including 2-2 at No. 1 and 1-0 at No. 2 singles. In doubles, she is 3-2 overall with a 1-0 record with Tarrolly at No. 1. With Anne Bowe, she is 1-2 at No. 1 doubles and she has a 1-0 record at No. 1 doubles with Nesbit.

A senior from St. Cloud, Minn., Anne Bowe is 1-4 overall with a 0-3 mark at No. 3 singles a 1-1 mark at No. 4 singles. In doubles, she has teamed with Kopel for a 1-2 record at No. 1. At No. 2 with Nesbit, she is 1-0 in doubles.    

Jane Bodensteiner, a junior from Palatine, Ill., is 4-1 overall. She is 3-1 at No. 2 singles and 1-0 at No. 3 singles. She is also 4-1 in No. 2 doubles with Maria Bedford.

Senior Maria Bedford of St. Paul, Minn., who earned her first-ever MIAC Player of the Week honor on March 14, has opened the 2023 season with five straight wins, including 4-0 at No. 5 and 1-0 at No. 6. In doubles, Bedford and Bodensteiner stand overall 4-1. At No. 2, they are 3-1 and 1-0 at No. 3.  

At No. 6, Brooke Beier, a first year from Foley, Minn., is 2-2 in singles.  
 
Team Notes
Sophomore Sophia Jonas did not play in the opening five matches. A year ago, she was 7-5 overall with a 6-2 MIAC mark in playing primarily at No. 5. Of note, Kopel and Jonas advanced to the finals at the ITA Regional Championships hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College last fall. The duo made an incredible run in the tournament, marking the highest CSB finish in recent memory. The unranked Saint Ben's doubles team of Kopel and Jonas started their tournament run with an 8-1 win over Elise Bierbaum and Annika Hillstrom of Bethel. Kopel and Jonas advanced to take on Giana Apostoli and Xingchen Liu of Carthage College, where they posted an 8-5 win over the No. 9 seed. The Bennies advanced to take on third seeded UW-Whitewater where CSB advanced due to an injury default by Whitewater. Kopel and Jonas then battled fifth seed Allison Szalay and Halle Rosentreter of Gustavus where the Bennie duo posted an 8-7(5) victory to advance to the final. The magical run ended falling 8-1 to top-seeded Amelia Asfaw and Mariam Nechiporuk of Carleton. 
 
Bowe returns to lead Saint Ben's
Bowe, who is the interim head coach, served as the Bennies' head coach for seven years in the mid-1990s, and guided CSB to top-five MIAC finishes in five of those seven seasons. CSB took third with a 9-2 conference mark and a 16-5 overall record in 1994-95 and finished fourth in his final season in 1996-97. Bowe earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors with CSB in 1993. After leaving CSB in 1997, Bowe took over the Saint John's tennis program, and he has remained there ever since. Since taking over at SJU in the 1998 season, Bowe is 228-231 overall and 115-103 in MIAC duals. The Johnnies have finished in the top five of the conference standings in five of the last seven seasons, including a pair of third place finishes in 2018 and 2019. Bowe earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors with the Johnnies in 2003, 2019 and again in 2022. Five athletes earned All-MIAC doubles honors and two more earned All-MIAC singles accolades under Bowe's watch in 2022.