MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Northwestern women's tennis team won its first-ever Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament on Saturday, defeating rival College of St. Scholastica 6-3 at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus. The Eagles, who shared the conference regular season title with the Saints, are now 19-6 overall heading into next week's National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) national tournament.

Match Results

Doubles play was going to be key for UNW on Saturday as St. Scholastica won last week's regular season battle thanks to a 3-0 sweep over the Eagles in Duluth, Minn. That wasn't the case in today's match though, as Northwestern took two of the three contests in the doubles round. Playing with Karen Moe (Fargo, N.D./Fargo South ) for the third consecutive match, Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) joined the freshman in an 8-1 defeat of the Saints' Alexis Gunderson and Jessica Solberg in the No. 1 doubles match. The Eagles' No. 2 pair of Tina Matetich (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) took things a little closer to the wire but still beat CSS's Alexa Herbst and Madeleine Scanlan 8-6. Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and Amber Gallaway (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) were on the losing end of an 8-5 No. 3 doubles final against the Saints' Allie Carlson.

Needing to win three of the six singles matches to take home the UMAC Tournament trophy, Northwestern went even farther, claiming victories at Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 6. Moe beat Gunderson 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 2 singles match, while Kelly Johnson (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) defeated Solberg 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 at No. 3. Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing)'s win over Scanlan 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 1 singles match was the clincher for the Eagles, who also got a victory from Amber Gallaway (Annandale, Minn./Annandale) at No. 6 in her 6-1, 6-4 upper hand over Pamela Hartley.

Saturday was the first time that St. Scholastica hadn't won the UMAC Tournament title in the 18 years that the league has sponsored women's tennis as a sport. 2014 was also the first year that any team besides the Saints also won at least a share of the regular season championship.

Northwestern will start the NCCAA Tournament with three pool play matches over the course of two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, 6-7. The Eagles' first bout will be against Dallas Baptist University at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday the 6th in Mobile, Alabama.