ROGERS, Minn. – Bethel University won a super tiebreaker at No. 1 singles to hand the St. Olaf College women's tennis team a 5-4 defeat in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday at Rogers Tennis Center.

With the teams locked at 4-4, Lauryn Douglas outlasted sophomore Olha Zubarieva by a 7-5, 5-7, 10-7 margin in the final match on court to give Bethel (3-1, 2-0 MIAC) the win and deal St. Olaf (2-2, 2-1 MIAC) its first conference loss of the season. The Royals have defeated the Oles by 5-4 scores in each of the last two seasons.

In doubles, Bethel recorded comfortable victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 flights before Zubarieva and senior Allie Prokosch won a tiebreaker, 7-5, at No. 1 doubles to get St. Olaf on the board. The win kept Prokosch and Zubarieva undefeated (3-0) in MIAC play this season and extended the duo's winning streak to three matches.

In singles, the teams traded victories, as St. Olaf tied the team score at 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4 before Bethel won the deciding match. First year Alexandra Berns and sophomore Jane Spading both remained unbeaten this season by running their records to 7-0 (3-0 MIAC) with straight-set victories at No. 3 and No. 4 singles to tie the match at 2-2 and 3-3.

After the Royals went back ahead with a close win at No. 2 singles, sophomore Sarah Clark recorded her third-straight victory with a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 4 singles to shift all of the attention to No. 1 singles. After dropping the first set by a 7-5 margin, Zubarieva took the second by the same score but came out on the wrong side of a 10-7 super tiebreaker.

St. Olaf faces nationally-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College on the road on Saturday, March 4 at 9 a.m. at Swanson Tennis Center.