ROCHESTER, Minn. – Junior Fiona O'Flaherty won the decisive super tiebreaker at No. 4 singles to clinch a 5-4 victory for the St. Olaf College women's tennis team over UW-Eau Claire on Saturday at Rochester Tennis Connection.

With the match score tied at 4-4, O'Flaherty finished off a 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 victory over Sydney Presler at fourth singles to preserve the unbeaten start for St. Olaf (6-0). The match was the first meeting with UW-Eau Claire (6-5) for the Oles since 2011.

St. Olaf got out to a 2-1 lead in doubles after winning a tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles in the last one of the three matches on court. O'Flaherty and sophomore Alexandra Berns put the first point on the board for the Oles with an 8-1 win at No. 2 doubles to improve to 4-0 on the season. After the Blugolds picked up a point at No. 1 doubles, junior Jane Spading and sophomore Emma Clift took their tiebreaker at No. 3 doubles by a 7-4 margin to give St. Olaf a 2-1 advantage.

In singles, the Oles got wins from junior Olha Zubarieva, Spading, and O'Flaherty to get the three points they needed to seal the win. Spading ran her record to 6-0 on the season with a 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles to put St. Olaf ahead 3-2 at the time, but UW-Eau Claire won the next two matches to finish to take a 4-3 lead with two matches remaining.

Zubarieva proceeded to even the match at 4-4 with a 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 1 singles to turn the attention to O'Flaherty and Presler's match. After winning the first set, O'Flaherty lost the second – her first lost set of the season – but went on to outlast Presler in the tiebreaker by the slimmest of possible margins. The win kept O'Flaherty unbeaten on the season at 5-0.

The Oles return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday, March 23 at 11 a.m. in their first scheduled home match of the season at Carlson Courts.