ST. JOSEPH, Minn. –The College of Saint Benedict Tennis Team (7-3, 4-1 MIAC), which has won four of five matches, including three straight, will face a road test at Hamline University, Minn. (4-10, 0-5 MIAC) at 5:30 p.m., on Saturday, April 1 at the Rogers Tennis Center in St. Paul, Minn.  

This last weekend, the Bennies defeated Concordia (Minn) 8-1 in a conference match on March 25 after beating Northwestern (Minn) and splitting MIAC matches with St. Olaf, 5-4, loss and St. Catherine, 5-4, win. After Hamline, CSB will travel to Saint Cloud State University on Wednesday, April 5, in Sartell, Minn.
 
Breaking Down Hamline 
Hamline, coached Spencer Jones, has opened at 4-10 overall and 0-5 in MIAC play. Jones, a Piper tennis alumnus, is in his fourth season with the team. Hamline is led by Christine Muller and Lynn Nguyen, who are 6-5 and 6-3 overall, respectively. Three Pipers are on a win streak: Christine Muller, Natalie Randall, and Jenna Rubbelke.  

Series Notes
In the all-time series, CSB owns a 30-2 record against Hamline, with an impressive 15-1 home record and 13-1 road mark. CSB has won 10 straight matches, dating from April 27, 2012 to the 9-0 win a year ago on April 29, 2022. In the first matchup between the schools, CSB lost a 3-6 decision on May 2, 1977.
 
Bennies has seven in 10 matches 
The Bennies started the spring campaign with a 9-0 MIAC decision over St. Scholastica (3-10, 1-4 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. Coming back into MIAC play the Bennies had a successful 2-1 weekend that started with a 5-4 win over St. Kate's on Friday, March 17, in St. Paul, Minn. The Bennies hosted St. Olaf at Sta-Fit in Sartell, Minn on Sat., March 18, dropping a 5-4 decision after losing three tiebreakers. Then, on Sunday, March 19, the Bennies took an 8-1 win over St. Mary's at Sta -Fit in Sartell, Minn. On Tuesday, March 21, CSB earned a 9-0 decision against Northwestern at Sta -Fit in Sartell, Minn. The Bennies won its third straight match after defeating Concordia 8-1 on March 25 on the road.
 
Bedford named MIAC Tennis 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 on March 13. In 2022-23, Bedford has compiled a 9-0 record in singles, including four straight singles win during the Bennies trip to Florida March 6-10. She is 5-0 at No. 5 singles and 4-0 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 
Ashley Tarrolly, a sophomore from St. Cloud, Minn., is 3-2 at No. 1 singles. In league play, she has a 2-2 mark. At No. 1 doubles, she has teamed with Peyton Kopel to go 3-2 and at No. 3 with Brooke Tonnessen with a 1-0 record.   
 
Greta Nesbit, a sophomore from Le Sueur, Minn., has a 7-3 overall record, including 5-0 in MIAC play. She is 2-3 at No. 2 singles with a 5-0 mark at No. 3 as. In doubles play, she has a 4-2 record with three different teammates.  At No. 3 doubles, she teamed with Tonnessen to go 1-1. At No. 2 doubles, she has a 2-0 record with Anne Bowe and is 1-0 with Peyton Kopel at No. 1.    
  
This season, junior Peyton Kopel has a 5-5 record, including 2-3 at No. 1 and 3-2 at No. 2 singles. In doubles, she is 6-4 overall with a 3-2 record with Tarrolly at No. 1. With Anne Bowe, she is 2-2 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 4-4 overall with a 1-1 mark at No. 4 singles with a 2-0 mark at No. 5 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 9-1 overall. She is 6-0 at No. 4 singles and 2-0 at No. 5 singles with a MIAC mark of 5-0. Bodensteiner is 8-1 in doubles, including 4-0 in conference, with Maria Bedford. They have won five straight. Bodensteiner had a 4-0 week (with two singles and two doubles wins last week) and was named the CSB Athlete of the Week.
 
Senior Maria Bedford of St. Paul, Minn., who earned her first-ever MIAC Player of the Week honor on March 13, has opened the 2023 season with 10 straight wins and is 10-0. She has won all 10 matches by straight set verdicits. She is 5-0 at No. 5 and 5-0 at No. 6. 6. In doubles, Bedford and Bodensteiner stand overall 8-1. At No. 2, they are 4-1 and 4-0 at No. 3.   
 
At No. 6, Brooke Beier, a first year from Foley, Minn., is 2-2 in singles.  First-year Hannah Helms is 1-0 in singles play. Kira Young is 2-0 in doubles play and Brooke Tonnessen is 3-1 in doubles. 
  
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. She is 1-1 this season after recording a win in singles against Concordia College (Minn.) by a straight set margin. 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 face 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 leads Saint Benedict Tennis
Jack Bowe has been promoted to head coach for the College of Saint Benedict tennis team, according to an announcement by CSB on March 25. Bowe 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, who has compiled a 71-52 overall record, including 45-29 in the MIAC, earned MIAC Coach of the Year honors in 1993. Before his return to CSB, he led the Bennies to five straight win seasons. 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 ho