OWATONNA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team took a big step towards securing a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs with a 5-4 victory over Bethel University on Friday evening at West Hills Tennis and Fitness Center.

In a matchup of teams battling for one of the final two spots in the five-team MIAC Playoffs, St. Olaf (5-10, 4-4 MIAC) snapped a five-match losing streak in the series with Bethel (11-9, 4-5 MIAC) by getting super-tiebreaker victories from senior Ben Anderson and sophomore Bogdan Vizoli in the final two matches on court. Three of the last four meetings between the Oles and Royals have been decided by 5-4 margins.

With the win, St. Olaf moved ahead of Bethel and into a tie for the fifth and final playoff spot with Saint John's University with one match remaining. The Oles can clinch their first berth in the MIAC Playoffs since 2015 with a victory over Macalester College or a loss by Saint John's to Carleton College on Sunday. St. Olaf can also get in with a loss to the Scots and a Carleton win over Saint John's, as the Oles would hold the tiebreaker over both Bethel and Saint John's by virtue of their head-to-head wins.

Bethel put the first point on the board with an 8-4 victory at No. 2 doubles before the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches both went to tiebreakers. The Royals came back from a 6-1 deficit at the top spot to win the tiebreaker 7-5 and had a match point at No. 3 doubles to earn a sweep. First years Cathal Mee and Ryan Birnesser fended off the match point and went on to win the tiebreaker by a 10-8 margin to give the Oles a point heading into singles.

After Bethel went ahead 3-1 with a straight-set win at No. 5 singles, Mee claimed the first MIAC singles victory of his collegiate career with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph at No. 4 singles. First year Marjan Veldic followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles to make it a 3-3 match, but the Royals went back on top with a straight-set victory at No. 3 singles to leave the Oles needing to win the final two matches on court.

Playing his third super tiebreaker in his last four matches, Anderson recovered from dropping a second-set tiebreaker to cruise to a victory in the decider to claim a 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-2) win. The senior trailed 5-1 in the opening set before winning six games in a row.

In the decisive match, Vizoli trailed 3-2 early in the super tiebreaker before winning seven points in a row to bring up a string of match points with a 9-3 lead. Bethel's Carter Sheard saved two of the match points before Vizoli finished off a 5-7, 7-5, 1-0 (10-5) victory to improve to 7-3 in super tiebreakers this season.

Before its regular-season finale against Macalester on Sunday, the Oles are slated to face the University of Northwestern in a non-conference match on Saturday, April 27 at 5 p.m. at Carlson Courts.