Box ScoreOver a stretch of five games, the St. Catherine University tennis team faced the daunting task of taking on the top four teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). In its final match of that tough stretch before a non-conference spring break trip, the Wildcats gave No. 17 regionally-ranked, undefeated University of St. Thomas everything it could handle before falling 6-3 Sunday evening at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In doubles play, the pair of
Kylie Ketcho (Eden Prairie, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) and
Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) helped the Wildcats as they have all season to remain undefeated in MIAC doubles play at the No. 1 position. Ketcho and Salo downed the No.15 ranked team of Bridget Noack and Kara Lefsrud in the region by a score of 8-4.
The Wildcats found themselves down 2-1 after the No. 2 squad of
Maria Koval (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) and
Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D./Mitchell) fell to Shelby Henderson and Jenna Czarnecki 8-2, while
Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn./Waseca) and
Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) lost by the same score to Caitlin Bakke and Jenna Zimmerman at No. 3 doubles.
The Wildcat singles session got off to a strong start as Koval put up the fight of her collegiate career at the No. 1 singles spot against Henderson who began the season ranked No. 20 indivudally in the Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation (ITA) Central Region. The senior took down Henderson 6-4, 6-4 to score a singles win for the Wildcats and improve to 5-2 in the MIAC and remain undefeated against St. Thomas for her career in regular season singles matches.
Ketcho was the lone Wildcat to score a singles and doubles win for the second match in a row. The junior defeated Bakke 6-4, 6-3 at the No. 3 singles position to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Salo put up a fight for the Wildcats against Noack at the No. 2 position winning the first set 6-3. However, she fell 6-0 in the second set before suffering a tough 10-4 loss in the third-set tiebreaker. At No. 4, Knoll fell to Lefsrud 6-3, 6-3, while Lorenzen lost 6-0, 6-0 to Zimmerman. Sporer went down 6-1, 6-2 to Czarnecki at the final No. 6 spot.
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 5-4 overall and 3-4 in the MIAC. The Wildcats begin their spring break stretch of matches Sunday against a University of Texas at Dallas team that ranks No. 14 in the West Region. The match is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Richardson, Texas.
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