Results
ST. JOSEPH, MINN. – The St. Catherine University tennis team held its destiny in its hands Friday afternoon. The Wildcats needed to win their final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match of the season, and clinch the final spot in the conference tournament. St. Kate's certainly took care of business in St. Joseph, Minnesota, beating the College of Saint Benedict 8-1 to clinch their sixth consecutive trip to the MIAC postseason tournament.
Seniors
Mikinzee Salo (Brainerd, Minn. / Brainerd) and
Angie Lorenzen (Mitchell, S.D. / Mitchell) played three key matches to help the Wildcats win their second consecutive match against a MIAC opponent. The duo beat Saint Ben's Laura Finn and Rachel Raden 8-1 at the No. 1 doubles spot to close the season with a 12-4 record in doubles play.
Salo and Lorenzen's strong doubles play carried over to single, where they both won intense three set matches. No. 1 singles player Salo came back after dropping the first set to beat Finn 1-6, 6-3, 12-10 while Lorenzen took down Raden 6-2, 1-6, 10-6 at the No. 3 spot.
Jessica Duda (St. Michael, Minn. / St. Michael-Albertville) and
Leah Obert (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) also found success in doubles play. St. Kate's No. 3 team defeated Megan Hintz and Ellen Strensrud 8-3 to give the team a 2-0 lead.
Alicia Knoll (Waseca, Minn. / Waseca) and
Julia Sporer (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) looked to make it 3-0 Wildcats after doubles. Unfortunately, the Wildcats No. 2 doubles team fell to the Blazer's Victoria Beach and Cassy Finn 8-5.
Salo and Lorenzen's teammates won to help St. Kate's sweep singles play and take the 8-1 victory. Knoll beat Beach at the No. 2 spot 6-1, 6-4 while Duda took down Taylor Kraemer at the No. 4 spot 6-2, 6-4. Sporer and Obert won at the No. 5 and 6 spots respectively. Sporer beat Hintz by a score of 6-0, 6-4 and Obert defeated Cassy Finn 6-1, 6-4.
With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 10-8 on the year and are 5-5 in MIAC play. More importantly, the team clinched their sixth consecutive birth to the MIAC postseason tournament. As the No. 6 seed, St. Kate's will play No. 3 seeded Carleton College in the first round of the playoffs on Tuesday, May 3, at 4:30 p.m.
