Results
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – The St. Catherine University tennis team was on a roll entering its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) dual match of the season. The Wildcats were 2-0 in nonconference matches and played their best tennis of the season in an 8-1 win over the University of Northwestern on Friday. Sadly, St. Kate's came up short in its MIAC opener against the University of St. Thomas, falling by a final score of 8-1.
Leah Obert (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) earned the Wildcats lone point Sunday evening thanks to her win at the No. 5 singles spot. After dropping the first set 6-1, Obert rallied to beat the Tommies Sarah Benoy 6-4 in the second, forcing the third-set tiebreaker. She completely dominated in the final set, defeating Benoy 10-4 to win the match 1-6, 6-4, 10-4.
Sadly, things did not go St. Kate's way in other individual matches. Bri Dorr (Princeton, Minn. / Princeton) battled at the No. 1 singles spot, falling to Jenna Zimmerman 6-4, 6-1. Alisha Wiedmeier (Rapid City, S.D. / Stevens) also put up a fight at the No. 2 singles spot, but ultimately lost 6-2. 6-4.
Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) returned to the Wildcats singles line up after missing Friday due to injury. Sadly, the senior did not quite have the return she was hoping for, as she lost to St. Thomas' Taylor McLeod 6-0, 6-3.
Ella Graham (Madison, S.D. / Madison) and Ruth Rike (Pine City, Minn. / Pine City) also fell in their respective singles matches. Graham fell at the No. 4 spot 6-1, 6-1, while Rike battled to a 7-5, 6-1 loss as well.
The Wildcats tried to get off to a strong start in doubles play, but instead fell behind 3-0. Dorr and fellow sophomore Aubrey Eckstrom (St. James, Minn. / St. James) fell at the No. 1 doubles spot 8-2, while Graham and Maddy Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) lost by an identical score at the No. 3 spot. Wiedmeier and Sporer lost 8-3 as St. Kate's No. 2 doubles team.
With the loss, the Wildcats overall record falls to 2-1 and they open the MIAC season with a 0-1 record. St. Kate's will return to the court on Saturday when it looks for its first MIAC win against Hamline University. The match is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. at Baseline Tennis Center.
