Women’s tennis regular season coming to an end
Although it is heating up in Minnesota recently, the Minnesota State Women’s Tennis team played in a make-up match Tuesday that was canceled due to a snowstorm.
Their matchup with St. Cloud State was originally scheduled to be played on March 31. But, of course, the winter in Minnesota is never-ending, and the game was postponed until Tuesday afternoon.
The Huskies proved to be no match for a dominant Mavs team who picked up their fourth complete sweep of the season, 7-0. With their ninth consecutive win, the Mavs moved to 11-1 on the season and sit comfortably at the no. 2 seed in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
“It was a great match. On the whole, they played at a consistently strong level from beginning to end. That’s important,” said Mavs Head Coach Jeff Thomae.
Consistency has been the key for the Mavs this season, especially when it comes to winning the doubles point. MSU has secured the first point of the match in all of their previous 11 games, and have only dropped two total sets while doing so. That did not change Tuesday.
Senior Lois Page and sophomore Avery Stilwell kicked it off like usual, winning their no. 1 match 6-1. Senior Chiara Carnuletti and sophomore Freia Lawrence followed suit, winning the no. 2 match 6-1, as well. To finish off the doubles round of action, freshman McKenna DeMarce and sophomore Elizabeth Felderman secured yet another 6-1 win in the no. 3 match.
First point: Mavs. They kept their momentum going into the singles matches, sweeping the Huskies to take home the 7-0 victory.
The Mavs won all of their singles matches in two games, beginning with Page. She took the no. 1 singles match easily, 6-0 and 6-1. Lawrence did the same in the no. 2 singles, winning 6-0 and 6-1 in her own right. Carnelutti handled the no. 3 match, winning 6-1 and 6-1. Stilwell played her first set relatively close in the no. 4 match, 6-4, but cruised to a 6-1 victory in her second set. DeMarce handled the no. 5 match and had the only true nailbiter of the night in her first set, winning 7-5. But she got back on track in her second set, winning convincingly, 6-0. Felderman then won the Mavs their seventh and final point of the day in the no. 6 singles, winning 6-0 and 6-4.
In a match that did not count for a point, sophomore Brynn Psooy took on Olivia Fredrickson of the Huskies and won 4-1 and 4-2.
“Even in the matches with slower starts, they dug deep, found a way to turn things around, and then never looked back,” said Thomae. “With the Conference Tournament in less than two weeks, this is the kind of performance we need.”
Following their win Tuesday, the Mavs have two more matches to look forward to this weekend. The first will be a matchup with the 2-13 Bemidji State Beavers. Despite their record this year, the Beavers have had the Mavs’ number in four of the last five years, with the Mavs only victory coming in a 5-2 victory a season ago.
To conclude the regular season, the Mavs will take on the 7-8 University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles. In the 13 years that the two teams have faced off, the Mavs have swept the Golden Eagles 11 times, with the other two matchups being 8-1 wins.
Both matches will be played in Bemidji, with Friday’s clash starting at 5 p.m. and Saturday’s duel beginning at 11 a.m.
Write to Hayden Lee at Hayden.Lee@my.smsu.edu
Header Photo: Minnesota State’s Tennis team picks up their fourth sweep of the season after dominating in a makeup match agaisnt St. Cloud State Tuesday.(Courtesy MSU Athletics)