Women's Tennis | 2/7/2015 11:02:00 PM

MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Northwestern kicked off its women's schedule on Saturday, splitting a pair of matches at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus. UNW started the day with a close 5-4 loss to St. Catherine University before claiming its first win of the 2015 campaign over the University of Minnesota-Duluth in an 8-1 final.

Northwestern took one of the three doubles matches that were played against St. Catherine, but it was a nice revenge win for Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Karen Moe (Fargo, N.D./Fargo South ), who had previously lost to the Wildcats' Kylie Ketcho and Mikinzee Salo in the ITA regional tournament last fall. Johnson and Moe posted an 8-3 victory over Ketcho and Salo on Saturday, but the Eagles still faced an uphill climb trailing 2-1 heading into singles action.

Northwestern vs. St. Catherine Match Results

Johnson took care of Maria Koval 6-1, 6-1 in her first singles match of 2015, while Moe was victories over Ketcho 6-2, 7-5 in the No. 2 match. UNW's Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) lost a 10-8 third set tiebreaker in her No. 4 singles match against Angie Lorenzen that gave St. Kate's a 4-2 advantage, with Alicia Knoll's 6-0, 6-0 win over Northwestern freshman Brooke Lapinski (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen) being the winning point for the Wildcats. Tina Matetich (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing), the Eagles sophomore who was playing in the No. 6 spot, won her singles match over Jessica Duda 6-2, 6-1.

Wins came easier for Northwestern against the NCAA Division II Bulldogs from Minnesota-Duluth as the Eagles lost just two sets throughout the three doubles and six singles matches that were played. The No. 3 doubles team of Matetich and Lapinski had the best success against their counterparts from the north shore, defeating Emma Bartels and Katie Baasch 8-0 in a doubles sweep for UNW.

Northwestern vs. Minnesota-Duluth Match Results

In singles action, Johnson had the best line of any Eagles player, defeating Alyssa Brunelli 6-1, 6-0. Both Moe and Lapinski also earned a 6-0 win in their singles victories, with Lapinski's 6-0, 2-6, 1-0 (10-5) advantage being the freshman's first singles win of her college career. Birdie Bardwell (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville)'s first collegiate win came via retirement, with her opponent, Shelby Benkofske ending the match early with Bardwell winning the second set 5-2 after Benkofske won the first 7-5.

Northwestern (1-1) will return to Baseline for its next two matches, the first of which will take place next Friday, Feb. 13 against North Central University in the Eagles' Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) opener. That match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.