OWATONNA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team split non-conference matches against Carthage College and Carroll University on Saturday and Sunday at West Hills Tennis and Fitness Center.

In its first two matches of the spring season, St. Olaf (2-2) was defeated, 7-0, by Carthage (4-0) on Saturday before bouncing back with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Carroll (4-4) on Sunday. The Oles trailed the Pioneers by a 3-0 margin before winning the final four singles matches on court.

St. Olaf will return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a road match against the College of St. Scholastica on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 3 p.m. at Virginia Indoor Tennis and Pickleball Club.

Carthage 7, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

On Saturday, St. Olaf came up empty against Carthage, which had defeated Carleton College earlier in the day, despite pushing two singles matches to super tiebreaks. The Firebirds won all three doubles matches to claim the doubles point.

In singles, senior Bogdan Vizoli and sophomore Madden Vanderwerf both dropped super tiebreaks decided by the slimmest of margins. After dropping the first set, Vizoli took the second in a tiebreak at No. 1 singles before eventually falling by a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 1-0 (10-8) margin. Vanderwerf won a tight first set in an eventual 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (11-9) defeat at No. 3 singles.

St. Olaf 4, Carroll 3 | Box Score

After dropping the double point and the first two singles matches to conclude, St. Olaf stormed back with four consecutive singles wins, highlighted by junior Marjan Veldic winning the clinching super tiebreak at No. 2 singles to down Carroll.

In doubles, the Pioneers got wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots to take a lead into singles. Carroll proceeded to post straight-set victories at No. 6 and No. 4 singles to open up a 3-0 advantage.

In the next three matches to finish, senior Bogdan Vizoli, sophomore Lou Smith, and sophomore Jacob Schultz logged straight-set wins to bring the match down to the No. 2 singles match between Veldic and Ultrik Gellein.

After dropping a first-set tiebreak, Veldic rallied to win the second set, 7-5, to send the match to a super tiebreak that would determine the team result. The junior took the decisive tiebreak to finish off a 6-7 (5), 7-5, 1-0 (10-6) win.