OWATONNA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's tennis team saw its season come to an end with a 6-3 loss to Macalester College in a "win-and-in" scenario on the final day of the regular season on Sunday at West Hills Tennis and Fitness Center.

Needing a win to clinch a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs, St. Olaf (11-7, 5-5 MIAC) could not recover from getting swept in doubles by Macalester (11-6, 6-4 MIAC). The Oles ended the season in a tie for the sixth and final playoff spot with the College of Saint Benedict but lost the head-to-head meeting to the Bennies, thus ending St. Olaf's run of four consecutive playoff berths. The Scots had already secured a spot in the playoffs after Carleton College's win over Saint Ben's earlier in the day.

After dropping all three doubles matches to fall in a 3-0 hole, St. Olaf fought back in singles to get within 4-3 with two matches remaining on court but was unable to complete the comeback. Junior Jane Spading, sophomore Alexandra Berns, and junior Fiona O'Flaherty recorded singles wins for the Oles in the loss.

Macalester swept the three doubles matches by scores of 8-6, 8-4, and 8-5, including rallying from a 5-0 deficit for the narrow victory at No. 1 doubles, and held on in singles.

O'Flaherty completed a 15-2 season for St. Olaf with a 6-0, 6-3 victory at No. 4 singles in the first singles match to finish. The junior's 15 wins are the most in a season by an Ole since Erin Hynes '15 was 15-2 in 2014-15. The Scots got within one point of the five necessary points with a straight-set victory at No. 5 singles to go up 4-1.

Berns began the Oles' attempted comeback by coming from a set down to record a 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) victory at No. 3 singles in the first of back-to-back super-tiebreaker wins for St. Olaf. Spading followed with a 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5) win at No. 2 singles to bring the Oles within 4-3.

Macalester closed out the victory with a tight 7-6, (8-6), 6-4 victory from Sydney Ellison over junior Olha Zubarieva at No. 1 singles. In the final match on court, first year Mads Hockmuth battled Megan Twomey in a lengthy match at No. 6 singles before Twomey rallied in the super tiebreaker for a 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-0 (11-9) win.