Results
 
The St. Catherine University tennis team has been off to its best start in recent years going a perfect 4-0 early in the 2013 season, but had yet to face some of the top teams in the always-competitive Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC).
 
But against the league's top team – last year's MIAC regular season champion, playoff champion and No. 1 pick in the MIAC Pre-season Coaches' Poll – Carleton College, the Wildcats proved they still couldn't be stopped en route to a spectacular 5-4 upset of the Knights Sunday at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
 
Despite dropping their first doubles match of the season, the Wildcats got up early on the Knights 2-1 and then took 3-of-6 in singles play to hand the Knights' their first conference loss since April 30, 2011.
 
The loss for the Knights was also the first regular season MIAC loss since 2008 to an opponent other than Gustavus Adolphus College.
 
To open up doubles play, Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D.) and Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn.) took down Claire Spencer and Molly Hemes at the No. 3 spot with the day's top score of 8-2 for their fifth-straight win.
 
At the No. 2 position, Maria Koval (Green Bay, Wis.) and Michaela Burroughs (Waterloo, Neb.) – who was named the MIAC Women's Tennis Athlete-of-the-Week on Monday – also held on to their undefeated streak with a 8-4 win over Carleton's Mikayla Becich and Grace Davis.
 
Salo picked up the biggest win of the day at No. 6 singles as she took down Davis 6-4, 6-2 to seal the win for the Wildcats. The first-year is now 4-1 on the season in singles play.
 
After falling to Bridget Doyle and Anne Lombardi in doubles play, Victoria Bravo (Tucson, Ariz) rebounded at the No. 1 singles spot by taking Doyle down 6-3, 7-6. The junior is a perfect 5-0 at the No. 1 spot in her first year as a Wildcat.
 
Koval continued to dominate at the No. 3 singles spot as she took out the Knights' Becich 6-2, 7-5 to help fuel the Wildcat win. She also remains undefeated this season in singles.
 
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 5-0 overall and now sit atop the MIAC standings with a perfect 3-0 record.
 
The Wildcats will look to continue their unbeaten streak Saturday against the College of Saint Benedict for a 5:30 p.m. matchup at Baseline.
 
Wildcats on Twitter
Wildcats on Facebook