UMAC Game of the Week:Northwestern at St. Scholastica - 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 one contest being selected and highlighted as the UMAC Game of the Week.
This week’s UMAC Game of the Week will take place on Saturday, March 28
th as the University of Northwestern and the College of St. Scholastica meet in Duluth in an early season women’s tennis match up. The Eagles and the Saints were picked to finish in first and second place respectively in the UMAC this season following a 2014 season that saw the two teams share the UMAC Regular Season title.
About the Eagles
Northwestern enters Saturday’s bout against St. Scholastica with a 6-6 overall record and a 1-0 mark in UMAC play thus far in 2015. UNW has played two opponents listed in the latest ITA region rankings (St. Thomas, St. Catherine) and has wins over a pair of scholarship schools in Minnesota-Duluth and Northwestern (Iowa). The Eagles’ No. 1 doubles team of Megan Johnson and Karen Moe has wins over ranked opponents from Olivet Nazarene and St. Kate’s. Johnson and Moe are 10-4 together this season with a 9-3 mark outside of last fall’s ITA regional tournament.
In addition to their doubles efforts, Johnson and Moe are a solid 1-2 punch at the top of head coach Matt Swigart’s singles lineup. Johnson is 9-6 in the No. 1 slot in 2015, while Moe has a 13-2 mark at No. 2 to lead all Northwestern players in terms of wins. Both have won the UMAC Player of the Week award at least once in 2015, with Johnson’s announcement on Tuesday of this week being her second of the season. Johnson, the Eagles’ lone senior on the roster, owns the program’s all-time record for career wins in both singles (57) and doubles (58) victories.
Tina Matetich also offers Swigart a good option at No. 6 singles, a spot where the sophomore has gone 7-4. In between Moe at No. 2 and Matetich is where the difference has been made in matches won or lost. Newcomer Birdie Bardwell has played all but one of UNW’s matches at No. 3 singles, with veteran Rachel Bostrom playing at No. 4 – both are 3-8 this year in those positions. Freshman Brooke Lapinski, who regularly plays No. 5 singles, is 6-6 in 2015.
About the Saints
The St. Scholastica women's tennis team will be underdogs when it hosts the University of Northwestern Saturday. The Eagles handed the Saints their only UMAC regular season dual match loss in program history last season and then defeated CSS again in the UMAC Tournament championship.
The Saints are coming off of a 1-1 day last Saturday after falling to regionally ranked Gustavus Adolphus and then defeating conference foe North Central University. The Saints own a 7-6 record so far in 2015 and are 2-0 in UMAC play.
Freshman Sarah Coryell leads the team with eight singles victories with sophomore Madeleine Scanlan at seven victories. All three doubles flights have an 8-5 record thus far this season. The Saints are 40-38 in singles play and 24-15 in doubles action this spring.
Match Notes
-Either St. Scholastica or Northwestern have won at least a share of every UMAC regular season championship dating back to the league’s sponsorship of women’s tennis in 1997. Almost all of those titles belong to the Saints, who shared the UMAC championship with the Eagles last year. Northwestern won its first UMAC Tournament championship in 2014.
- St. Scholastica owns a 35-2 all-time record against Northwestern. UNW’s first and second wins over the Saints came last year.
-CSS had won its first 113 regular season UMAC dual matches until its loss to Northwestern last season.
-CSS has never lost to the Eagles in Duluth.
-All three matches were decided by 6-3 scores last season.
- UNW’s Megan Johnson is the reigning, two-time UMAC Player of the Year and has been an all-conference selection in each of her three years.
-CSS Senior Alexis Gunderson is one victory away from her 50th career doubles win.
- Moe is Northwestern’s all-time record holder for singles wins in a season (22 in 2014). She currently has 13 wins in 2015 with 14 regular season matches left on the schedule not counting the UMAC Tournament.
#UMACgotw