MINNEAPOLIS – The Northwestern College (Minn.) women's tennis team made its 2013 debut on Saturday night. Unfortunately for the Eagles, they met a now 2-0 St. Catherine University team while overcoming some of their own first-match jitters in a 9-0 loss at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus.

Match Results

Starting off a new season after earning the program's second-best win total (12) in 2012, Northwestern once again featured its top players from last year at the Nos. 1 and 2 singles positions in Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale). Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) had one of the better performances on Saturday in terms of the match score as she fell to the Wildcats' Victoria Bravo 6-2, 6-3. Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) got off to a rough start before taking three games in a 6-0, 6-3 loss to Michaela Burrows.

Rachel Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Bemidji) kicked off her senior campaign with a solid outing that resulted in a 6-4, 6-3 defeat to St. Kate's' Angie Lorenzen. Playing on their indoor home courts, St. Catherine's Mikinzee Solo and Bridget Ferrell handed losses to Northwestern's Amber Gallaway (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) and Karin Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) at Nos. 5 and 6 singles.

In addition to their singles sweep, the Wildcats took all three doubles matches as well as the Eagles were only able to take games in one match. Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and Gallaway finished their No. 2 doubles contest with an 8-2 loss.

While the Eagles start the year at 0-1, St. Kate's improves to 2-0 after having defeated Hamline University earlier in the day in the same venue. Northwestern will go back to work on the practice court before playing again in 10 days against the University of St. Thomas in the Tommies' Anderson Athletics and Recreation Complex on Feb. 19.