MINNEAPOLIS – The Northwestern College men's tennis team had its opportunities, but things didn't fall the Eagles' way in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament championship match against the College of St. Scholastica. Three different singles matches went into third set tiebreakers that could have gone either way, but it was the Saints who came away with the tournament trophy in a 7-2 final.

Match Results

NWC started it's doubles run well as the Eagles won the No. 1 match with David Knight (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) and Keagan Blancke (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) defeating their counterparts from St. Scholastica, Josh Stainer and Cullen Combs, 8-4. The Saints answered back with a No. 2 doubles win though as James Mack and Nick Lambrecht scored an 8-4 win against Northwestern's Jimmy Ekman (River Falls, Wis./River Falls) and Agassi Mila (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids). St. Scholastica's Dylan Kelly and Kolin Dean emerged victorious from the No. 3 doubles contest as they defeated the Eagles' Philip Gudim (Becker, Minn./Home School) and Levi Busse (Amery, Wis./Amery) 8-6.

With St. Scholastica holding a 2-1 edge heading into singles play, Northwestern needed to rebound in its Nos. 4, 5 and 6 singles matches, which were on the court next. The Saints inched closer to the needed five points as Mike Fontana defeated Mila 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot and Guthrie Coughlin beat Busse 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6. The Eagles' Gudim gave CSS's Combs all he could handle, but it was Combs winning the match for his team in a 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 1-0 (10-5) final score.

Northwestern senior David Knight (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) claimed victory in his final singles match, taking a 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6) win from Stainer in the No. 1 bout. Jimmy Ekman (River Falls, Wis./River Falls)'s No. 3 singles match also went into extra innings, but Lambrecht stormed back to win 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-2). Blancke's No. 2 contest against Mack finished with the St. Scholastica sophomore winning 6-4, 6-3.

The Eagles' 2013 overall record will go into the books at 13-11 with Northwestern winning eight of its 10 UMAC regular season matches. NWC's 13 victories are third-best for the program's 25-year history. Unfortunately for first-year head coach Matt Swigart, Northwestern will have to say goodbye to seniors Knight and Blancke, who have been staples in the program for the last three years and played a big part in the Eagles' 2011 UMAC Tournament title.

For more information about Northwestern tennis as it becomes available, continue to visit nwceagles.com.