Accomplished Mavs team has more to look forward to
Southwest Minnesota State University proved to just be another traffic cone for the MavBus to run over Saturday.
In another short weekend, the Minnesota State women’s tennis team took care of business in Owatonna, defeating the Mustangs 6-1 and extending their win streak to eight.
Before their match Saturday, the Mavs appeared on the first edition of the NCAA Central Region Rankings. The Central Region is made up of 27 teams. 12 from the NSIC, nine from the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and six from the Great American Conference. The first edition is released in alphabetic order, so the Mavs do not yet have a number associated with their team.
Eight other teams made the final cut, including the Augustana Vikings, who the Mavs will have to go through in order to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament in May.
Despite receiving this honor, the Mavs still had a match to play, which began with a doubles sweep.
Senior Lois Page and sophomore Avery Stilwell kicked it all off with a win over the Mustangs’ Courtenay Leonard and Gabriela Almeida 6-4 in the No. 1 doubles match. Senior Chiarra Carnelutti and sophomore Freia Lawrence skunked Faith Mdikwe and Roz Oye, 6-0, in the No. 2 doubles match, but the No. 3 doubles came down to the wire. Sophomore Elizabeth Felderman and freshman McKenna DeMarce had their hands full, earning a hard-fought 7-6 win to secure all three matches for the Mavs earning the doubles point.
On a quest for three more points, the Mavs went above and beyond, winning five of the six singles matches.
Page took the No. 1 singles match 6-1 and 6-4, Lawrence won 6-1 and 6-1 in the No. 2 match, and Carnelutti won 6-2 and 6-3 in the No. 3 singles. With those matches in the books, the Mavs defeated the Mustangs. However, Stilwell won 6-0 and 6-3 in the No. 4 singles match, and freshman Daria Podmogilnaia won 6-3 and 6-1 in the No. 5 singles match. To end the night, Muara Wiens defeated DeMarce 7-6 in the first set, lost 6-1 in the second, and won 1-0 to secure the seventh and final point.
For her efforts Saturday, Page was named the NSIC Player of the Week. She is the second Maverick to receive this award this season. Lawrence was named Player of the Week back in March.
The Mavs have a busy week ahead of them. Three matches in six days, beginning with the make-up game against St. Cloud State in Rogers Tuesday. Three and four days later, the Mavs will travel to Bemidji to take on Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston for their final two matches of the regular season.
Write to Hayden Lee at Hayden.Lee@my.smsu.edu
Header Photo: The MSU Women’s Tennis team continues their winning streak to eight after defeating Southwest Minnesota State last Saturday with a 6-1 score.(Courtesy MSU Athletics)