OWATONNA, Minn. – First year Henry Smith posted a straight-set victory at No. 6 singles for the St. Olaf College men's tennis team in an 8-1 loss to Bethel University on Saturday afternoon at Owatonna Indoor Tennis Center.

Smith rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Joey Mueller at sixth singles to provide the lone point of the afternoon for St. Olaf (1-1, 1-1 MIAC). Bethel (3-2, 1-1 MIAC) swept the three doubles matches and had four of its five singles points come in straight sets.
The Royals started the match with an 8-1 win at No. 3 doubles and added 8-4 victories at the top-two spots to carry a 3-0 lead into singles.

After Bethel added a win at No. 2 singles, Smith got the Oles on the board with his first collegiate singles victory in a contested match. The Royals secured the team win with straight-set victories at No. 3, No. 1 and No. 5 singles.

The lone match of the day to go the distance was the No. 4 singles match between junior Dez Young and Tyler Creelman. Young won the first set, 6-2, before Creelman grabbed a close second set, 7-5, to extend the match to a super tiebreaker, which Creelman won by a 10-8 margin.

St. Olaf takes on the University of St. Thomas on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 11 a.m. at Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.