MINNEAPOLIS – Northwestern College found itself on the losing end of a 7-2 score against the College of St. Scholastica in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament championship match on Saturday. The Eagles received victories from their No. 1 singles and doubles entries, but the Saints took the remaining seven matches to reclaim the tournament trophy at the Baseline Tennis Center. NWC's season ends with a 12-9 overall record, with the Eagles going 8-2 in league play in 2013.

Match Results

Northwestern had an uphill battle after finishing doubles play 1-2. Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) teamed up to beat St. Scholastica's Hillary Bungarden and Alexis Gunderson 8-2 in the No. 1 match, but NWC's other two doubles teams – Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake)/Rachel Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Bemidji) and Aubree Else (Oskaloosa, Iowa/Pella Christian)/Karin Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) – both lost their matches in matching 8-5 fashion.

The Saints rallied behind their bottom three singles players to ultimately win the match. Alek Ochmowicz defeated Karin Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Apollo) 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 6 match while Rachel Smith (St. Cloud, Minn./Bemidji) lost 6-1, 6-4 to Megan Lawrence at No. 4. Else's No. 5 singles match went into a tiebreaker set with Kelli Johnson winning 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-7).

The last group on was the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 singles players from each team. Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) proved to be too much for Bungarden in a 6-0, 6-0 sweep at the No. 1 spot, but that would be all of the points Northwestern would get. The Eagles' Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) lost to Rachael Zwiener 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2, while NWC dropped another third set tiebreaker in the No. 3 match, with Bostrom losing 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6).

While Saturday's result wasn't the desired finish for Northwestern to finish the season, the Eagles return a solid core from their 2013 lineup including their top three players in Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing), Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) and Bostrom in addition to Else. NWC's 12 victories ties the same win total from the 2012 campaign, which is one shy of the program record-14 from 2008.

For more information about Northwestern women's tennis in the future, stay tuned to nwceagles.com.