FARGO, N.D. – The UNW Women's Tennis team traveled up to Fargo, N.D. Saturday afternoon to battle Concordia College indoors at Courts Plus Athletic Complex looking to avenge their tight 4-5 loss to the Cobbers in the previous year.
As the Eagles and Cobbers started doubles play, it was Concordia that drew first blood with a 2-8 win at one doubles. But the Eagles responded with a close win of their own at two doubles which featured
Taylar Smith (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) and
Elli Dodge (Wahpeton, N.D./Wahpeton) battling back from a quick 0-3 deficit to force a tiebreaker at 7-7. Smith and Dodge would eventually emerge victorious winning in their tiebreaker by a slim margin of 7-5 to even the team score up at one a-piece.
With both the Cobbers and Eagles looking to take the 2-1 team score advantage into singles play, it was the duo of
Elise Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) and
Analise Marquardt (Parkers Prairie, Minn./Parkers Prairie) that took a page out of Smith and Dodge's playbook to force a tiebreaker at 7-7 after battling back and forth with the Cobbers at three doubles. It was the Cobbers who first took the mini-break leading 3-5 in the tiebreaker. But Jarchow and Marquardt were undeterred and rallied back to win the next four points winning the tiebreaker 7-5 and giving the Eagles the 2-1 team lead heading into singles play.
As three doubles play was wrapping up, singles play was up and running where the Eagles were looking to split singles play and find 3 points across the lineup. The Cobbers were able to even things up at 2-2 as
Belinda Weddle (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) battled at one singles with a close first set of 3-6 and falling in the second set 1-6. On the next court, it was
Annie Orvis (Rochester, Minn/Schaeffer Academy) who played a cool and controlled match at two singles, stringing together an impressive 6-1 win in the first set followed by a little more closely contested second set. Ultimately, it was Orvis who prevailed 6-4, winning a high rally count last point to give the Eagles the 3-2 team lead.
Needing only two more team points, the doubles pair of
Taylar Smith (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) and
Elli Dodge (Wahpeton, N.D./Wahpeton) looked to try and get their individual singles points at three and four singles. In both matches, the Eagles dropped the first set 2-6. In Smith's match at three, down 1-5 in the second set, Smith was able to figure things out and storm back making things interesting at 4-5. Needing to break, Smith forced it to deuce in which she ended up fighting off four match points, but ultimately was not able to fend off the fifth match point falling 4-6 in the second set. It was only moments later on the next court that Dodge, who put up a similar level of fight and determination, battling back and forth with her opponent in the second set ended up dropping her second set 4-6. With the conclusion of three and four singles, it was the Cobbers who jumped ahead at 4-3 in the team score, only needing one more point to secure the win.
The last two matches featured the three doubles duo of
Elise Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) at five singles and
Analise Marquardt (Parkers Prairie, Minn./Parkers Prairie) at six singles. The Eagles hopes of winning were in the hands of the two freshmen. Jarchow got things started pulling ahead midway through her first set sprinting to a 6-1 first set win. On the next court, it was Marquardt that struggled early, falling behind 1-5. But Marquardt was able to make the necessary adjustments late in the first set to rattle off the next 6 games in a row and secure the first set at 7-5.
As Marquardt was in the middle of her first set comeback, Jarchow battled in a tough second set at five singles in which the Cobbers were able to force a third set super tiebreaker at 6-1, 4-6. In the super breaker, the Cobbers were able to control the pace as Jarchow fought to keep things close. At multiple points, it was Jarchow that was down 3 points in the race to 10. And finding herself in the same situation down 6-9 having to save three match points, it was again Jarchow who was miraculously able to find a way to even things up at 9-9. With the winner needing to win by 2 and the entire men's and women's Eagles teams waiting on bated breath,
Elise Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) strung together another two points to win the super breaker 11-9 and knot up the Eagles at 4-4 with the Cobbers. Ultimately, it was Jarchow who was able to win 5 points in a row to secure her second third set super tiebreaker in the span of a week with a score of 6-1, 4-6, 11-9.
With the dramatic and tense win at five singles, all eyes shifted to the next court where Ana Marquardt was in control from the start of the second set. In addition to her first set, Marquardt had won 10 of her 11 last games at six singles to give herself a comfortable 5-1 lead in the second set. The Cobbers were able to hold serve and come one game closer, but Marquardt unquestionably closed the door of hope for the Cobbers, pulling ahead late in the last game to win her match 7-5, 6-2 and giving the Eagles the team victory at 5-4.
In what ultimately ended up being a comfortable last clinching match for the Eagles, the match with the Cobbers could not have been any closer and thrilling as the Eagles were essentially 5 points away (1, 2 doubles & 5 singles) from losing 3-6. But the Eagles resolve and fight proved to be the difference maker Saturday night as they improved to a record of 6-3 on the season and ride a five-match winning streak into their next double header against the Dubuque Spartans and Bethany Lutheran Vikings this upcoming Saturday.
