Box ScoreThe St. Catherine University tennis team opened the 2015 season with two non-conference wins a week ago and hoped it could carry that momentum into the beginning of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) schedule. Thanks to strong play throughout the lineup, the Wildcats were able to begin the conference season with a solid 9-0 sweep over Saint Mary's University Friday evening in Winona, Minnesota.
The Wildcats opened the match with a 3-0 sweep of doubles play with the No. 2 pair of
Maria Koval (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) and
Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D./Mitchell) leading the way with a dominant 8-2 win over Megan Vandenberg and Ashley Syel.
At the No. 1 spot,
Kylie Ketcho (Eden Prairie, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) and
Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) were able to pull out a win but not without a battle with a 8-6 decision over Kirsten Hoffmann and Katie Krull.
Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn./Waseca) and
Jessica Duda (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) also battled to an 8-6 win over Haley Jorgensen and Stacey Buss at the No. 3 doubles position.
After cruising through doubles, Koval and Ketcho showed the strength of the Wildcats' singles lineup at the top positions. At No. 1, Koval defeated Hoffmann by a score of 6-1, 6-2 before Ketcho took down Krull 6-0, 6-2.
Knoll came up with the next strong win at No. 5 singles with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Syed, while Salo and Lorenzen both had 6-2, 6-4 decisions at the the No. 3 and 4 positions, respectively. Julie Sporer (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) then sealed the sweep at the No. 6 position with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win over Buss for her first appearance in the Wildcat lineup this season.
The Wildcats improve to 3-0 on the season and open MIAC play 1-0. They return to conference action against Macalester College Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
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