DULUTH, Minn. – The University of Northwestern women's tennis team picked up a key victory on Saturday, defeating Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) rival College of St. Scholastica 5-4 in what was dubbed the conference's game of the week. Birdie Bardwell (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville)'s overtime win at No. 3 singles sealed the deal for the Eagles, who improved to 2-0 in league play.

Match Results

Northwestern's top two players, Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and Karen Moe (Fargo, N.D./Fargo South ), both took care of business in both singles and doubles action. As the Eagles' No. 1 doubles team, Johnson and Moe defeated the Saints' Daniela Rojas and Madeleine Scanlan 8-4. Bardwell and Tina Matetich (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) were also victorious in doubles play, earning an 8-6 victory against Sarah Coryell and Katie Kingston at No. 3. St. Scholastica's Miki Samz and Alexis Gunderson kept their team in the match with an 8-3 win over UNW's Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and Brooke Lapinski (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen) at No. 2 doubles.

Johnson and Moe's singles bouts were two of the first three to finish, giving Northwestern its third and fourth points in a race to five. Johnson handed Gunderson a 6-0, 6-2 loss at No. 1, while Moe was a 6-3, 6-4 victor over Scanlan in the No. 2 match. Samz handed CSS its third point at No. 4 singles in a 6-3, 7-5 win against the Eagles' Bostrom before Bardwell beat Rojas 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 3 singles to ultimately win the match for Northwestern. Bardwell's win was also big because St. Scholastica finished the day with wins at Nos. 5 and 6 singles.

Northwestern will hope to carry Saturday's momentum into next Tuesday, March 31, when the Eagles host Bethel University in a home match at the Johnson Courts on campus. The match is expected to start at 5 p.m., although that time could be moved up by a few minutes.