Box Score After suffering a devastating 5-4 loss to No. 26 Carleton College Satturday night in a marathon matched that finished just before midnight, the St. Catherine University tennis team faced the tough task of taking on fellow Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) foe Hamline University less than eight hours later with the Daylight Savings Time change. However, the Wildcats showed extreme resilience and power when they cruised to a 9-0 win over the Pipers Sunday morning at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
The Wildcats dropped just four total games in all three doubles matches with No. 2 pair of
Maria Koval (Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy) and
Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D./Mitchell) picking up a perfect 8-0 win over Shamara Duwearatchi and Maggie Gibson to remain undefeated against MIAC opponents this season. At the top spot,
Kylie Ketcho (Eden Prairie, Minn./Academy of Holy Angels) and
Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn./Brainerd) scored a 8-1 win over Emily Butler and Jordan Danielson. Finally, at No. 3 doubles Alicia Knoll (Waaseca, Minn./Waseca) and Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn./Rogers) defeated Lili Denison and Elizabeth Hughes 8-3.
With three wins after doubles, Koval led the Wildcat charge in singles taking a straight-set 6-0, 6-0 win over Butler at the No. 1, while Ketcho also scored a 6-0, 6-0 win over Duwearatchi at No. 3 singles.
Salo was nearly perfect as she tallied a 6-0, 6-1 win over Danielson at No. 2 singles, while Lorenzen dropped just two games with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Denison at No.5 singles. Knoll battled Gibson to a 7-5 win in the first set at No. 4 singles before taking over in the second set for a 6-1 win to remain the only Wildcat with a perfect 5-0 MIAC singles record this season.
At the final No. 6 singles position, Sporer dropped her first set 6-4 to emily Wollmuth. She then turned the tables for a 6-4 win in the second before taking the tiebreaker 10-6 to help the Wildcats improve to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the MIAC.
Koval was the lone Wildcat to score wins in both her doubles and singles matches in both the Wildcat competitions this weekend. She improves to 4-1 in the MIAC at the No. 1 singles spot. Like Koval and Lorenzen, Ketcho and Salo are also a perfect 5-0 in MIAC doubles so far this season.
The Wildcats will return to action against a tough Gustavus Adolphus College squad for a 2 p.m. match in St. Peter, Minn. Wildcat Tennis on FacebookWildcats on TwitterWildcats on Facebook
