MINNEAPOLIS – The Northwestern College women's tennis team didn't do itself any favors, but the Eagles pulled out a 6-3 victory over the University of Minnesota Morris on Friday night in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament semifinals. The victory propels NWC into Saturday's 11 a.m. championship match against the College of St. Scholastica at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus.
Match Results
Two of the three doubles matches from Friday night's contest went the Eagles' way with the No. 2 pair of
Rachel Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Bemidji) and
Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) dropping their bout 9-7. Northwestern's No. 1 team of
Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and
Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) gave NWC its first point of the night with a 8-1 victory against Abby Fragodt and Kayla Kraemer. The No. 3 doubles duo of
Karin Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) and
Aubree Else (Oskaloosa, Iowa/Pella Christian) was also successful as the freshmen beat their Cougars counterparts, Rachelle Dotas and Rebecca Hansen, 8-2.
Needing three points to solidify Northwestern's place in Saturday's championship match,
Rachel Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Bemidji) started the Eagles' singles run with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Kayla Hegna at No. 4. A Bostrom loss to Kraemer in the No. 3 singles match tightened things up at 3-2 in the team competition, but NWC's No. 2 player
Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) created a small buffer with her 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-8) extra innings victory against Christina Mollan to put the Eagles at four points.
Karin Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) sealed the deal with a 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 6 singles before
Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) won her No. 1 singles match in 6-3, 6-2 fashion, avenging her loss to Fragodt in Morris, Minn. from Monday of this week.
Playing up at No. 5 singles, Northwestern's Else lost to Dotas 6-3, 6-3 to complete the night with the Eagles winning 6-3.
Now 12-8 overall, NWC will be back at Baseline in less than 12 hours to face off against St. Scholastica.
