OWATONNA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's tennis team recorded back-to-back 6-3 victories over St. Catherine University and the College of St. Scholastica in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday and Sunday at West Hills Tennis and Fitness Center.
St. Olaf (6-0, 3-0 MIAC) remained unbeaten this season through six matches with the consecutive 6-3 wins over St. Kate's (4-1, 1-1 MIAC) and St. Scholastica (3-2, 1-1 MIAC). The Oles won two of the three doubles matches and four of the six singles matches in both victories.
Next up for St. Olaf is a MIAC match against Hamline University on Saturday, March 8 at 12:30 p.m. back at West Hills Tennis and Fitness Center.
St. Olaf 6, St. Kate's 3 | Box Score
St. Olaf's top-two doubles pairings of seniors
Olha Zubarieva and
Jane Spading and senior
Fiona O'Flaherty and junior
Alexandra Berns got the Oles out to a 2-1 lead in doubles with 8-5 and 8-6 victories after St. Kate's put the first point on the board at No. 3 doubles. The MIAC opted to continue employing the same nine-point scoring format as previous years this season despite the NCAA implementing the seven-point format for non-conference and postseason matches.
Spading won the first five games of her No. 2 singles match before her opponent was forced to retire, giving the Oles a 3-1 lead. St. Kate's got a straight-set win at No. 1 singles, but senior
Sarah Clark cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles to bring St. Olaf within one of the necessary five points. The Wildcats again got within one with a straight-set victory at No. 6 singles, leaving St. Kate's needing wins at both No. 3 and No. 4 singles to complete the comeback.
O'Flaherty ended the Wildcats' hopes by closing out a 6-2, 6-4 victory at the third spot before Berns won a super tiebreaker at No. 4 singles in a 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4) win one spot below.
St. Olaf 6, St. Scholastica 3 | Box Score
For the second time in as many days, the pairings of Zubarieva/Spading and O'Flaherty/Berns gave St. Olaf a 2-1 lead after doubles after St. Scholastica posted a win at No. 3 doubles. Zubarieva and Spading improved to 4-0 in dual matches with an 8-3 win atop the lineup before O'Flaherty and Berns also got to 4-0 in dual matches with an 8-4 victory at the second spot.
The Saints leveled the score at 2-2 with a straight-set victory at No. 1 singles, but the Oles rattled off the next three matches to finish to lock up the win. Clark ran her record to 6-0 in dual matches with a 6-2, 6-0 victory at No. 5 singles before Berns moved to 4-0 in duals with her second super-tiebreaker win in as many days. Berns recovered from dropping the second set to pick up a 6-0, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4) win.
O'Flaherty won her sixth consecutive match at No. 3 singles via a 6-2, 6-2 score to secure the team result. Sc. Scholastica got a super-tiebreaker victory at No. 6 singles before Spading won a tight 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 match at No. 2 singles to also get to 6-0 in dual matches.
