Match Results

FRIDLEY – The Northwestern College men's tennis team had its five-match winning streak snapped by the College of St. Scholastica on Tuesday night as the Eagles lost to the Saints 6-3. Four of the nine matches went into tiebreakers.

Two of those tiebreakers came in doubles action, where Northwestern's No. 1 team of David Knight (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) and Caleb Kauss (St. Paul, Minn./Harding) lost their first UMAC match to St. Scholastica's Jacob Engelstad and Kevin Hilpert 9-8 (11-9). On the next court over, NWC's Keagan Blancke (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) and Jimmy Ekman (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) were working hard in their No. 2 doubles match as they ultimately won 9-8 (7-3). Philip Gudim (Becker, Minn./Home School) and Collin Henslee (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln Christian) lost at No. 3 doubles by an 8-4 score, sending the Eagles into singles action down 2-1.

Knight quickly tied the match score at two apiece after he handily took care of Engelstad at No. 1 singles by a 6-2, 6-1 count. Kauss and James Mack went into extra innings at second singles, with Mack winning 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. Blancke, who won the decisive fifth point for the Eagles in last year's UMAC Tournament that featured Northwestern versus St. Scholastica in every flight's finals contest, came through again, defeating Dylan Kelly 7-5, 7-5. The Saints finished strong though, taking all three of the Nos. 4-6 singles matches to win the team match. Mila and Tyler Bates went into overtime as well at No. 6 singles before losing 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (15-11).

Now 8-8 overall and 5-1 in UMAC play, the Eagles will have another shot at St. Scholastica on April 28 in Duluth. Northwestern, however, will shift its immediate attention to Thursday of this week, when the Eagles will head west to face another UMAC opponent in the University of Minnesota Morris for a 3 p.m. match.