ST. PAUL – Playing its first true home match since the 2009 season, the University of Northwestern put a little drama into its first match at the new William Zane Johnson Complex on Tuesday, going to a third set tiebreaker to determine the entire match against Bethel University. It was the Royals who won that No. 5 singles contest, and ultimately therefore the team match, in a 5-4 final that finished under the lights on a perfect day for tennis.
Match ResultsNorthwestern received a rousing start by its No. 1 doubles team, but the Nos. 2 and 3 pairs struggled to keep pace. The Eagles'
Megan Johnson (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and
Karen Moe (Fargo, N.D./Fargo South ) blanked their BU opponents, Kristin Vivian and Abby Kreklau, 8-1, but the scores were nearly the same in the other direction in the other two matches. UNW's
Rachel Bostrom (Forest Lake, Minn./Forest Lake) and
Brooke Lapinski (Chanhassen, Minn./Chanhassen) lost 8-3 at No. 2 doubles while
Tina Matetich (Hibbing, Minn./Hibbing) and
Birdie Bardwell (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville) fell 8-1 to Kourtney Jakubic and Anna Browning in No. 3 doubles action.
The black-clad Northwestern bunch won the top half of singles competition, with the Royals taking all three of the Nos. 4-6 matches. Johnson won her No. 1 match easily over Vivian, 6-4 and 6-2, with Moe needing even less time to defeat Kreklau 6-0, 6-1.
Birdie Bardwell (Stewartville, Minn./Stewartville), who was named the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Player of the Week on Tuesday, was also victorious in her No. 3 match, winning a 6-3, 6-3 battle against Jakubic.
Mattie Kidder defeated Bostrom 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles, with Larissa Voss handing Matetich a 6-2, 6-4 loss to tie the overall score at 4-4. Browning and Lapinski went into the night to determine the overall score: trailing by a set, Lapinski came back in a second set tiebreaker after trailing Browning 6-2 in the breaker. But it was Browning who won the super tiebreaker 10-5 to effectively give the Royals the victory.
Northwestern, now 7-7 overall, has a sizable break with the upcoming Easter weekend before returning to the court for a UMAC match against Bethany Lutheran College on April 10, which UNW will host at home at 4 p.m.
