ST. PAUL, Minn. – In a matchup of teams that had already clinched spots in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs, the St. Olaf College women's tennis team was on the wrong end of a 5-4 defeat to Macalester College on Tuesday evening at Hayden Courts.

St. Olaf (7-7, 5-4 MIAC) picked up narrow victories and No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to carry a lead into singles, but Macalester (11-5, 7-2 MIAC) claimed four singles victories – two in super tiebreakers – to earn the win. With the loss, the Oles will be either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in next week's MIAC Playoffs and will be on the road for the quarterfinals.

In doubles, the tandems of sophomore Olha Zubarieva and senior Allie Prokosch and sophomores Fiona O'Flaherty and Sarah Clark gave St. Olaf the advantage heading into singles. Prokosch and Zubarieva ran their record to 13-3 overall and 8-1 in MIAC play with an 8-6 victory at the top spot, while O'Flaherty and Clark pulled out a 9-7 victory in the tiebreaker of their match at No. 3 doubles in their first conference match as a pair this season.

Prokosch recorded St. Olaf's lone straight-set singles victory of the day by a 6-3, 6-3 score line at No. 2 singles to move to 6-3 in conference play. After dropping the first set, O'Flaherty cruised through the second set before winning a hard-fought super tiebreaker for a 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 win at No. 5 singles. The Scots won two super tiebreakers, including the deciding match at No. 1 singles with the score tied at 4-4.

St. Olaf concludes the regular season with a home match against St. Catherine University at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 22 before opening the MIAC Playoffs with a road quarterfinal on Wednesday, April 26.