ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team earned its first home playoff match under the current format of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs with a 7-2 victory over Macalester College in its regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon at Hayden Courts.

Needing a win to clinch a playoff spot, St. Olaf (6-7, 5-4 MIAC) won two of the three doubles matches and claimed five straight-set singles wins to end a nine-match losing streak to Macalester (8-9, 3-6 MIAC). Prior to Saturday, the Oles' last win over the Scots was on Feb. 27, 2015.

With the victory and the College of St. Scholastica's loss to nationally-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Olaf will be the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 seed Concordia-Moorhead in the quarterfinals of the MIAC Playoffs on Tuesday, April 29 at 3:30 p.m. at Carlson Courts. The playoff appearance will be the second in a row for the Oles, who had not appeared in the tournament since 2015 before last season.

St. Olaf has not hosted a playoff match at Carlson Courts since the tournament moved to a six-team (now five-team) format in 2007.

The pairings of sophomore Marjan Veldic/first year Madden Vanderwer and first year Daniel Meunier/sophomore Ryan Birnesser gave the Oles a 2-1 lead after doubles with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. In their first match together, Veldic and Vanderwerf won five games in a row to take a 5-1 lead on their way to an 8-2 victory at the second spot.

At No. 3 doubles, Meunier and Birnesser trailed 2-0 early before winning eight of the last nine games in an 8-3 win in their second dual match as a tandem. Macalester won the final four games to break a 4-4 tie at No. 1 doubles.

Veldic, first year Lou Smith, Vanderwerf, sophomore Cathal Mee, and Birnesser recorded straight-set singles victories for St. Olaf. Smith won the final nine games of his match at No. 3 singles to come away with a 6-3, 6-0 victory. Mee overcame early deficits in both sets to post a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 5 singles.

Veldic was responsible for the playoff-clinching point via his 6-3, 7-5 triumph at No. 2 singles. The sophomore won the final three games of the opening set before rallying from 5-2 down by winning the final five games of the match.

Vanderwerf and Birnesser won first-set tiebreakers in their matches at No. 4 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Vanderwerf trailed 5-1 in the opening set before coming back and cruising through the tiebreaker in a 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 win, while Birnesser got out to an early lead in his tiebreaker in an eventual 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory.