Results

After picking up its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) postseason win in four-consecutive appearances with a 5-4 victory over St. Olaf College on Tuesday, the St. Catherine University tennis team hoped to work its way into the conference championship match with a semifinal victory. Despite their best efforts, though, the Wildcats couldn't find a way to move past the No. 1-seed and No. 24 nationally-ranked Carleton College Knights in a 5-2 loss Thursday evening at Lifetime Fitness in Lakeville, Minn. 

In the Wildcats' first meeting with the Knights' this season, the Wildcats managed to take two of the three doubles matchups from the Knights. Thursday was a different story as Victoria Bravo (Tucson, Ariz.) and Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn.) fought for every point and narrowly suffered an 8-6 loss to one of the top doubles pairs in the region in Joyce Yu and Anne Lombardi at the No. 1 position. 

A battle brewed at the No. 2 position that eventually fell in favor of the Wildcats as Kylie Ketcho (Edina, Minn.) and Maria Koval (Green Bay, Wis.) took a 9-8 victory from Mikayla Becich and Grace Davis. After a long and grueling fight to 8-8, Ketcho and Koval eventually came up with the Wildcats' only doubles win in a 7-2 tiebreaker. 

In singles play, the Wildcats managed to pick up one win before the Knights eventually grabbed three singles victories to force the decision and punch their ticket to the MIAC championship match. Ketcho was the lone Wildcat to score a singles victory as she defeated Becich at the No. 3 spot in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 for her 11th victory of the season. In their first match up of the season, Ketcho lost to Becich 6-2, 6-3, but managed to find revenge and a win Thursday. 

At the time of the decision, Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn.) was leading Yu 3-2 in the second set after dropping the first 6-4, but did not finish the match. Bravo also took the first set  6-4 over one of the top players in the region in Anne Lombardi at the No. 1 position. 

Though Bravo didn't get to finish her final singles match as a Wildcat, her short two-year career with the squad is nothing less than impressive. The senior helped lead the Wildcats to their first ever MIAC regular season championship last season with an untainted 10-0 MIAC regular season singles record. This year, Bravo was just as impressive as she went 9-0 in MIAC singles play and 15-2 overall. She finishes her No. 1 singles career 30-4 overall. Even more impressive is Bravo's perfect 21-0 record against MIAC opponents to claim her spot as the top MIAC player in the last two seasons. Bravo also ends her career 26-5 in doubles play. 

With the loss, the Wildcats finish the 2014 season with an impressive 13-8 record and 7-3 MIAC regular season record. 

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