Results

With just two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular season matches left this week, the St. Catherine University tennis team hoped it could pull off a win against the College of Saint Benedict to remain in control of its own playoff destiny and work toward a quarterfinal round bye. Unfortunately, the Wildcats made things a bit more difficult on themselves as they dropped a close 5-4 match to the Blazers Saturday afternoon in St. Joseph, Minn. 

The match didn't start off in favor of the Wildcats as, in uncharacteristic fashion, they dropped two of the three doubles matches to the Blazers. Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn.) and Megan Buysse (Redwood Falls, Minn.) picked up the lone wildcat win at No. 3 doubles with a 8-4 victory over Victoria Beach and Erin Stocker. The No. 2 pair of Maria Koval (Green Bay, Wis.) and Kylie Ketcho (Edina, Minn.) narrowly lost to the Blazers' second pair in a 9-8 heartbreaker. 

Knoll was the lone Wildcat to pick up a doubles and singles victory as she defeated Ellie Black 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 5 position, while Ketcho had the most impressive singles victory of the day. She took down Jamie Hoffman 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 3 spot to keep the Wildcats alive. 

The Wildcats were only able to take in one more single victory, though, as Victoria Bravo (Tucson, Ariz.) defeated Daley Rupar 7-6, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. With the win, Bravo remained undefeated in her MIAC singles career and improved to 8-0 on the season at the top spot. 

With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 7-2 in MIAC play as they head in to a must-win match against the University of St. Thomas Sunday with MIAC playoff seeding implications on the line. The match is currently scheduled for 3 p.m. at St. Paul Academy in St. Paul. 

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