LAKEVILLE, Minn. - The St. Olaf women's tennis team was defeated 9-0 on Monday afternoon at the hands of MIAC-leading Carleton at Lifetime Fitness Lakeville. With the win, Carleton remains undefeated in conference play and moves to 14-2 overall.

Carleton is a very talented squad, said St. Olaf assistant coach Nick Hoelmer. I think what sets them apart from other top teams is their depth. Top to bottom, each of their women played with great poise.

Carleton began the match by sweeping all three doubles positions. The closest doubles match came at the first position where Lisa Hall and Maya MacGibbon held a 5-4 lead over Carleton's Anne Lombardi and Joyce Yu at one point. However, Lombardi and Yu rattled off four straight games to take the match 8-5.

In singles play, St. Olaf junior Kristi Kroker found herself in a 2-1 hole to Carleton's Claire Spencer in her first set at the second position, but rallied to win five straight games, giving Kroker the 6-2 first set victory. The second set was a different story, as Spencer stormed back to take a 6-2 victory herself and force a 10-point tiebreaker for the third set. The pair battled back and forth and remained within three points for the entire breaker, but Spencer eventually prevailed to defeat Kroker 11-9.

I'm proud of our women, they competed hard today and maintained positivity throughout the match, said Hoelmer. Playing against teams like Carleton can do nothing but make us a stronger team and we're fortunate to have such strong opponents like them in our conference.

With the loss, St. Olaf falls to 3-3 in MIAC play and currently sits in fifth place in the conference standings. The top six MIAC teams advance to the conference playoffs which begin May 2.

On Saturday, the Oles will travel northbound to take on the Cobbers of Concordia-Moorhead. The match will begin at 1 p.m.