Each Wednesday throughout the summer, the St. Catherine University athletics department will countdown the top Wildcat victories from the last year in the Top 10 Victories of 2015-16.

Coming into the 2016 season, the St. Catherine University tennis team already established itself as one of the top programs in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). In late April, the Wildcats held destiny in their hands, as they needed a victory over the College of Saint Benedict to clinch their sixth straight berth to the MIAC Playoffs. St. Kate's earned that victory in dominating fashion, beating the Blazers 8-1 to clinch the sixth and final spot in the conference tournament.

Just a few days before playing Saint Ben's, the Wildcats got a much needed win over Macalester College to keep their playoff hopes alive. However, St. Kate's still needed to beat the upset minded Blazers in order to clinch the final MIAC Playoff spot
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Seniors Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn. / Brainerd) and Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S. D. / Mitchell) set the tone early for the Wildcats by beating Saint Ben's Laura Finn and Rachel Raden 8-1 at the No. 1 doubles spot. They then both went on to win their respective singles matches. St. Kate's No. 1 singles player Salo came back after dropping the first set to beat Finn 1-6, 6-3, 12-10 while Lorenzen took down Raden 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 at the No. 3 spot.

Jessica Duda (St. Michael, Minn. / St. Michael-Albertville) and Leah Obert (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) also found success in doubles play. St. Kate's No. 3 team defeated Megan Hintz and Ellen Strensrud 8-3 to give the team a 2-0 lead. Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) and Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) looked to make it 3-0 Wildcats after doubles. Unfortunately, the Wildcats No. 2 doubles team fell to the Blazer's Victoria Beach and Cassy Finn 8-5.

In singles play, Knoll beat Beach at the No. 2 spot 6-1, 6-4 while Duda took down Taylor Kraemer at the No. 4 spot 6-2, 6-4. Sporer and Obert won at the No. 5 and 6 spots respectively, helping St. Kate's sweep Saint Ben's in singles play to close out the 8-1 victory.

As the six seed, the Wildcats faced the third seeded University of St. Thomas in the first round of the MIAC playoffs. St. Kate's lost to the Tommies by a score of 7-2, but not before Lorenzen and Salo pulled off two big upsets. The duo beat St. Thomas' regionally ranked doubles team of Bridget Noack and Shelby Henderson 8-4 to finish their careers as one of the top doubles players in St. Kate's history. Salo also upset Noack in singles play, sweeping the Tommies No. 1 player in straight sets 6-0, 6-4.

To relive the action from the Wildcats' victory, read the original release. The remainder of the top 10 Victories of 2015-16 will be posted throughout the rest of the summer.
Top 10 victories of 2015-16: No. 10, Dance takes first in pom at UW-Eau Claire 
Top 10 victories of 2015-16: No. 9 Hockey's Pechacek named All-American after record setting season
Top 10 victories of 2015-16: No. 8 Volleyball upsets Saint Ben's in five-set thriller