NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team dropped four tiebreakers – including two super tiebreakers in singles – in a 9-0 defeat to crosstown-rival Carleton College on Monday afternoon at Pat Lamb Tennis Courts.
Carleton (12-4, 7-0 MIAC) claimed its sixth consecutive 9-0 win in the series between the two programs, but the match was closer than the final tally indicated. St. Olaf (3-10, 2-4 MIAC) pushed the Knights, who remained one of two unbeaten programs in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) along with Gustavus Adolphus College, the distance at No. 2 and No. 6 singles and came out on the wrong end of a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles and a tiebreaker in the second set at No. 3 singles.
Seniors
Jakub Belik and
Max Loesch extended their match against Jack Rivkin and Zach Leslie at No. 2 doubles to a tiebreaker before falling short by a 7-5 margin in their first loss as a pair this spring (4-1). Carleton picked up an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles and an 8-5 victory at No. 1 doubles in its doubles sweep.
The Knights earned four straight-set victories in the six singles matches and won both of the matches that went to a super tiebreaker. After providing the deciding point in Saturday's 5-4 win at Saint John's University in the last match on court, senior
Ben Anderson fought back from losing the first set to get his match at No. 6 singles to a super tiebreaker. Anderson had match points in the decider before going down by a 13-11 margin.
First year
Marjan Veldic and Baiyun Jing split a pair of hard-fought sets at No. 2 singles after Jing took the second set 7-5 by breaking in the final game. Jing broke open the super tiebreaker by turning a 3-2 lead into a 9-3 advantage before closing it out for a 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-4) win in the final match to conclude. Belik nearly forced his match at No. 3 singles to a super tiebreaker but dropped a second-set tiebreaker in a 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) defeat.
St. Olaf is scheduled to play its final four matches of the regular season at home, starting with a 4 p.m. match against Saint Mary's University on Saturday, April 20.
