NORTHFIELD, Minn. – In its first home match of the season, the St. Olaf College women's tennis team knocked off No. 25-ranked Bethel University in a 5-4 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) thriller on Wednesday at Carlson Courts.
After dropping four of its last five conferences matches, St. Olaf (11-6, 5-4 MIAC) dealt nationally-ranked Bethel (16-2, 6-2 MIAC) just its second loss of the season by sweeping the three doubles matches and winning two of the final three singles matches on court. The Royals were ranked No. 25 in the country in Wednesday's Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings and were ranked No. 4 in Region VII in this week's NCAA Regional Rankings.
The Oles surged out to a 3-0 lead in doubles play, with all three matches being decided by three or fewer games. Junior
Jane Spading and senior
Anna Secor put the first point on the board with an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles. Juniors
Olha Zubarieva and
Sarah Clark followed with an 8-6 victory over Lauryn Douglas and Michaella Sullivan, who were the No. 2-ranked pairing in this week's NCAA Regional Rankings.
In the longest of the three doubles matches, junior
Fiona O'Flaherty and sophomore
Alexandra Berns won a tiebreaker at No. 2 doubles by a 7-5 margin to complete the sweep. The win improved Berns and O'Flaherty to 9-4 overall and 6-2 in MIAC play this season.
Bethel fought back in singles, getting straight-set wins at No. 6, No. 2, and No. 3 singles to tie the match at 3-3 with three matches still on court. Zubarieva gave St. Olaf its fourth point with a 6-3, 7-5 victory at No. 1 singles over Douglas, who was ranked No. 6 in the region in the NCAA Regional Rankings this week.
With the Oles needing one of the final two matches to secure the win, the Royals stayed alive with a straight-set win at No. 5 singles to turn all of the attention to the No. 4 singles match between O'Flaherty and Emma Thole.
Thole overcame a 4-1 deficit to take the opening set before O'Flaherty recovered in the second set to set up a winner-take-all super tiebreaker. O'Flaherty opened up an 8-4 in the decider, but Thole rallied to get within a point at 8-7. After Thole saved a match point while down 9-7, O'Flaherty clinched the match with a 5-7, 6-2, 1-0 (10-8) victory for her 14th win against just two losses this season. The first-set loss was the first set O'Flaherty has dropped in any of her 14 victories this spring.
The win kept the Oles in the hunt for a playoff spot, but St. Olaf still needs a win over Macalester College in its regular-season finale to earn a spot in the six-team field. The Oles and Scots are scheduled for an 11 a.m. start at Carlson Courts on Sunday, April 28.
