Results
ST. PAUL, MINN. – Four days ago, the St. Catherine University tennis team fell to the Bethel University Royals 5-4 in the final dual match of the 2017 regular season. On Wednesday, the Wildcats had a chance to avenge that loss, as they took on the fourth seeded Royals in the opening round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Tennis Postseason Tournament. Despite a hard fought battle, St. Kate's came up short in the quarterfinal playoff dual, falling to Bethel 5-4.
The Wildcats fell into an early 1-2 deficit after doubles play despite three hard fought matches.
Alisha Wiedmeier (Rapid City, S.D. / Stevens) and
Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) won St. Kate's lone point in dramatic fashion, as they needed a tiebreaker to beat Anna Browning and Mattie Kidder 9-8 (7-5). With the score knotted 7-7, Wiedmeier and Sporer broke the Royals No. 2 team to take an 8-7 lead. The two Wildcats needed to hold serve to win the match, but sadly, Browning and Kidder managed to win and force the seven-point tiebreaker. Fortunately, Wiedmeier and Sporer dominated the final seven points, winning 7-4 to take the match 9-8 (7-4).
St. Kate's looked like it was going to add another point in doubles with a win by
Jessica Duda (St. Michael, Minn. / St. Michael-Albertville) and
Leah Obert (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley), but sadly, the Royals No. 3 team of Sami Hindt and Mattie Lubben won two break points to take the match by a final score of 8-5. Unfortunately, No. 1 doubles team of
Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) and
Bri Dorr (Princeton, Minn. / Princeton) also hit a bit of a snag, as they fell to Sydney Parkinson and Jill Weintzettel 8-4.
St. Kate's managed to even the score in singles play, as Dorr, Duda and Obert all won to pull the Wildcats even with the Royals. After losing the first set 7-5, Dorr rebounded with a 6-4 set two victory over Wintzettel to force the third set tiebreaker. She then dominated the tiebreaker, winning 10-4 to earn another point in St. Kate's favor.
Duda beat Browning 6-3, 6-2 as the Wildcats No. 5 singles player, while Obert beat Meghan Schuler in three sets by a score of 6-3, 4-6, 10-3.
Knoll concluded her career at St. Kate's with a hard fought singles match. Despite dropping the first set 6-1, Knoll bounced back in the second and held serve until 5-5. Unfortunately, Kidder, the Royals No. 1 singles player, broke Knoll to win the match 7-5.
Wiedmeier also battled in her singles match, but ultimately fell 6-1, 6-0.
Despite the playoff loss, the Wildcats concluded the season with an 11-7 record and a 6-4 mark in MIAC play. St. Kate's also qualified for the MIAC Postseason Tournament for the seventh consecutive year.
