St. Scholastica wins grueling 5-4 battle with Northwestern; claims UMAC women's tennis tournament title
DULUTH, Minn.---The storied recent history between the College of St. Scholastica and the University of Northwestern saw a new chapter written Saturday when the No. 1 Saints defeated the No. 2 Eagles 5-4 in a grueling 3.5-hour match in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) tournament championship to earn the league's first-ever automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championship in women's tennis.
|
Tournament Site |
Box Score |
The Saints will make a third-straight appearance in the NCAA tournament following a remarkable match between both squads. The Eagles took command of the match early taking doubles 2-1 and the first two singles matches before the Saints closed out winning the final four singles matches in third-set tiebreakers.
The Eagles' top pair of Brooke Lapinski and Nikki Paskewitz cruised to a 8-2 win in doubles to kick off the match before Gracie Lebrun and Mafee Rinta battled for a 8-6 win at the No. 3 doubles position. The Saints' Katelyn Rice and Elizabeth Fink played well over and hour against Shawna Spears and Emily Knight at No. 2 doubles for a 8-6 win to salvage a point.
Up 2-1, the Eagles went into the driver's seat when Lapinski and Paskewitz won at No. 1 and 2 singles, respectively. Lapinski defeated Elise Hauer 6-3, 6-1, while Paskewitz took down Daniela Rojas 6-0, 6-1 to give the Eagles a 4-1.
The tides changed, though, at that point as the next four singles matches ended in three-set tiebreakers. The first finisher was Fink at No. 5 singles who lost the opening set 6-4 before rallying to take the second set 6-3. She then scored the third set 10-5 to pull the Saints within two.
Shortly there-after at No. 6 singles, Alexia Brascugli won over Jessica Gross. She dropped the first set 7-6 in a tiebreaker but recovered for an impressive 6-1 victory in the second and finished with a 10-5 win in the tiebreaker.
The remaining two matches were hard-fought on both sides, but the Saints were able to even things at 4-4 for the match when Rice defeated Knight at the No. 4 spot. Rice lost 6-3 and then won 6-2 to force a third set keeping the Saints alive. She then cruised to a 10-3 win to put the pressure on teammate Sarah Coryell.
The all-time most winning singles player in Saints' history, Coryell faced one of the toughest situations in her four-year career as she lost the second set in a tiebreaker following a dominant 6-1 win to open. She and Spears then battled in a marathon third set when Coryell came back to win 10-8 after being down 6-2 to seal the tournament title.
The champion Saints will represent the UMAC in the NCAA tournament that is set to begin regional rounds next week. The field announcement will be released Monday on ncaa.com.
Playoff Schedule
Semifinal Matches - Monday, April 30
No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 4 Martin Luther, 7-2 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
MLC Recap |
No. 2 Northwestern def. No. 3 Wisconsin-Superior, 8-1 |
Box Score |
UNW Recap |
UWS Recap |
Championship Match - Friday, May 4
No. 1 St. Scholastica def. No. 2 Northwestern, 5-4 |
Box Score |
CSS Recap |
UNW Recap |
Event Information
All tournament information including scores, recaps, team information and more can be found on the
UMAC Women’s Tennis Tournament page. Keep up with all of the tournament action on
Twitter and
Instagram using
#UMACchamp.
2018 Tournament Page