Game of the Week: Northwestern at St. Scholastica - Men's & Women's Tennis
UMAC Game of the Week Archives
ST. PAUL -- The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Game of the Week is a feature that takes place each week throughout the conference portion of the season with typically one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
As both contests are taking place simultaneously at the same location, UMAC Men’s and Women’s Tennis foes College of St. Scholastica and University of Northwestern will square off in this week’s UMAC Game of the Week. The matches are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at Arrowhead Tennis Center in Duluth, Minn. In their first meetings of the year on March 29, the Saints men’s squad defeated Northwestern 9-0 while the Eagles women were victorious in a 6-3 final score.
Men’s Match – St. Scholastica (7-0 UMAC) vs. Northwestern (6-1 UMAC)
St. Scholastica will be in search of its 14th straight dual match win this weekend when it hosts Bethany Lutheran (9 a.m.) and Northwestern (3 p.m.) on Saturday. CSS is currently on a 13-match winning streak, which is the longest single-season winning streak in program history.
The Saints have won their last four dual matches 9-0. CSS has not lost a doubles match since dropping the No. 2 spot on March 11th against Illinois Wesleyan.
Northwestern is coming off of its seventh win of the season with a 6-3 defeat of Martin Luther College on Tuesday. While the Saints will host Bethany Lutheran on Saturday morning, the Eagles will get a shot at the Vikings a day before in a 4 p.m. bout in Mankato, Minn. Both Jimmy Ekman (No. 1 singles) and Phil Gudim (No. 2) have a team-best nine singles victory for UNW, while the two have combined to go 9-9 at No. 1 doubles this season.
Notes:
St. Scholastica’s Mike Fontana has won 10 straight singles matches.
CSS’s Nick Lambrecht has 47 career singles wins, which is one shy of the fourth-most in program history. If he records three singles wins this season he will become the first player in Saints history to record 50 career wins and have over a .700 winning percentage.
Northwestern’s doubles combination of Ekman and Gudim are 7-3 in their last 10 matches.
The Eagles are still looking for their first-ever victory over St. Scholastica. Saturday’s match will be Northwestern’s 33rd attempt in that quest.
Women’s Match – St. Scholastica (6-1 UMAC) vs. Northwestern (7-0 UMAC)
St. Scholastica has won four straight matches, including the last three by 9-0 scores. The Saints have only lost two conference doubles contests and both of those came against Northwestern.
The Saints continue to be led by freshmen in singles play. Jessica Solberg and Madeleine Scanlan each have a team-high 14 victories. Solberg has won seven straight matches. Solberg has also partnered with junior Alexis Gunderson to lead the squad with 12 doubles victories.
Northwestern enters this weekend’s matches with 10 victories in its last 11 bouts, losing only to Wisconsin-La Crosse on April 12 during that stretch. UNW hasn’t given up a point in any of its last eight wins.
Five different Eagles players have recorded double-digit victories in singles action this season, helping Northwestern to a 15-5 overall mark. Karen Moe is 16-4 at No. 2 singles, while Megan Johnson, the team’s No. 1 singles player, is 15-5. Amber Gallaway has won six consecutive singles contests while teaming with Rachel Bostrom to maintain the same streak in doubles action.
Notes:
Four St. Scholastica players enter the weekend on at least a five-match singles winning streak.
The Saints have not lost at No. 3 and No. 4 singles in nine straight matches.
Northwestern’s Karen Moe became the program’s all-time leader in singles victories in a season on Tuesday, earning her 16th win of the year against Martin Luther.
Both UNW’s Megan Johnson and Moe are 9-1 in their last 10 singles matches. The same is true for the doubles teams of Megan Johnson and Kelly Johnson and Moe and Tina Matetich.
For information about other contests around the league this week, visit the UMAC's
live scoreboard.