OWATONNA, Minn. – In a match decided by the thinnest of margins, the St. Olaf College women's tennis team suffered a 4-3 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) defeat to Macalester College on Saturday morning at West Hills Tennis and Fitness Center.
St. Olaf (9-7, 2-6 MIAC) won two of three tightly-contested matches in doubles and led 3-1 with three singles matches still on court, but Macalester (7-6, 4-3 MIAC) won all three in super tiebreaks to claim the victory. Two of the Scots' three super-tiebreak wins came by two-point margins.
On their Senior Day,
Alexandra Berns and
Emma Clift came back from 5-2 down to post a 7-5 win at No. 1 doubles to offset Macalester's 7-5 victory at No. 2 doubles and improve to 6-2 in MIAC play. That left the doubles point to be determined at the No. 3 spot, where juniors
Charlotte Sloane and
Mads Hockmuth won a tiebreak, 7-3, in the first match together to give the Oles the advantage heading into singles.
After the Scots recorded a straight-sets win at No. 2 singles, Hockmuth put St. Olaf back on top with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 5 singles. First year
Dana Keesler followed with a come-from-behind 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5) win at No. 3 singles by winning seven of the final eight points of the super tiebreak.
Macalester logged comeback wins of its own at No. 1, No. 4, and No. 6 singles, as the Scots dropped the opening sets in all three matches before winning the super tiebreaks, including a 10-8 win at No. 1 singles and a 12-10 victory in the decisive match at No. 6 singles.
St. Olaf will host Bethel University at Carlson Courts on Monday, April 20 at 4 p.m.
