MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – The University of Northwestern women's tennis team came up short in two tight matches with Wartburg College and Hamline University on Saturday at the Baseline Tennis Center on the University Minnesota's campus. The losses move the Eagles to 6-8 in non-conference play.
Match 1: Wartburg College 5, Northwestern 4
UNW started the day off with some success in doubles action, taking two of the three matches from the Knights. The senior tandem and no. 1 pairing of Nikki Paskewitz (Staples, Minn./Staples-Motley) and Emily Knight (Fort Dodge, Iowa/Fort Dodge) secured the 8-4 win, while the three pairing of Rachel Lukkarila (Becker, Minn./Homeschool) and Gracie LeBrun (Pine City, Minn./Pine City) also grabbed an 8-5 match win, to put the Eagles ahead 2-1 after the first portion of play.
Northwestern then, in need of three match wins to secure the team victory, picked up two match wins across the six duals to fall just shy of a victory. LeBrun picked up her second win of the match at the five position in straight sets (7-5, 6-3), and Mafee Rinta (Hudson, Wis./Hudson) battled for a tight straight sets win (7-6, 6-4) at the six spot. Paskewitz and Lukkarila fell just short in third set tiebreaks at the one and four positions
Match 2: Hamline University 6, Northwestern 3
Northwestern began their second match of the day by taking one of the three doubles matches. The duo of LeBrun and Lukkarila picked up their second doubles win together, winning 8-4 at the three spot.
UNW then tacked on two victories in the six matches across singles play. Shawna Spears (Thief River Falls, Minn./Lincoln) earned a hard-fought win that went the distance (6-2, 5-7, 10-6) at no. 3 and Belinda Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) added a dominant victory (6-0, 6-1) at no. 6. LeBrun just missed going 4/4 in her matches on the day, as she came up just short in the third set tiebreaker (6-7, 6-2, 9-11) in her final match at the four position.
Next up, the Eagles will begin UMAC play on Saturday when they head west to St. Bonifacius to take on Crown College. Fans can head to unweagles.com to stay up to date with UNW Women's Tennis.
