ResultsFARGO, N.D. – The St. Catherine University tennis team faced their first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) test Saturday afternoon. The team traveled to Fargo, North Dakota to face the Concordia Cobbers to open conference play. The Wildcats strong play against nonconference foes carried over, as they beat the Cobbers 9-0 for their third win of the 2016 season.
St. Kate's opened the match with three wins in doubles play. No. 1 doubles team
Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn. / Brainerd) and
Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D. / Mitchell) beat their Concordia counter parts 8-1 and set the tone for their Wildcat teammates. No. 2 doubles team
Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) and
Jessica Duda (St. Michael, Minn. / St, Michael-Albertville) and No. 3 team
Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) and
Ruth Rike (Pine City, Minn. / Pine) won their matches as well. Knoll and Duda played the closest doubles match of the day, needed 13 games to beat the Cobbers No. 2 doubles team 8-5. Sporer and Rike defeated their opponents 8-0.
St. Kate's looked equally strong in singles play against Concordia. All six Wildcat singles players defeated their Cobber opponents in straight sets, and not a single tie breaker was needed to decide a winner. Both No. 1 singles player Salo and No. 5 player Sporer won by scores of 6-0, 6-0. Knoll beat her opponent 6-0, 6-1, and Lorenzen added another point in St. Kate's favor when she defeated Concordia's No. 3 singles player 6-1, 6-1.
Duda and first year
Leah Obert (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) also won singles matches for St. Kate's. No. 4 singles player Duda played the closest match of the day, beating her opponent 6-4, 6-2 in the final match of the day while Obert beat Cobbers Kara Tupa 6-1, 6-2.
With three matches now under their belts, the Wildcats return home next Friday for a nonconference match against Martin Luther. The match is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Baseline courts.
