ORLANDO, Fla. – University of Northwestern Women's Tennis battled Ursinus College and Saint Vincent College on Thursday for their final two matches in Florida this spring. UNW fell 6-3 to the Bears in the morning, but then closed out their spring break with a decisive 6-3 victory over the Bearcats. The Eagles are headed back to the frozen tundra with an impressive 4-1 record over spring break against some tough teams.
Match One: Ursinus College Bears
UNW opened their first match of the day with a pair of wins in the doubles contests.
Annie Orvis (Rochester, Minn/Schaeffer Academy) and
Abby Johnson (Zimmerman, Minn./Homeschool) gave Northwestern the first win of the day with an 8-5 victory in the #1 match.
Domiano Baideme (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) and
Elise Jarchow (Luverne, Minn./Luverne) then doubled the Eagles lead with an 8-3 win at #2 doubles. The Bears took the #3 match 8-6, but UNW nonetheless headed into singles with a 2-1 lead in the team competition.
In singles, Ursinus found their swing as they took five of the six matches. The Eagles earned a hard-fought win at #5 singles as
Taylar Smith (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) rallied to take a 1-6, 6-3, (10-6) tiebreak win, but the Bears took the other singles matches to win the team match 6-3.
Match Two: Saint Vincent College Bearcats
Doubles started out strong with
Rayna Baumgarn (Holmen, Wis./Holmen) and
Taylar Smith (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield) securing a win at the #2 match, taking care of business with an 8-0 win. A tough loss at #1 doubles put #3 doubles in a need-to-win position, so that the Eagles could go into singles with a 2-1 lead.
It was a back-and-forth score, both teams holding serve more often than not, ultimately resulting in a tiebreaker. The team made up of
Caitlyn Swigart (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) and
Grace Buswell (Winona, Minn/Winona) took control of the breaker early, going up 6-2 quickly. The match was ended with a strong serve out wide from Swigart, effectively acing their opponent and putting the Eagles in a prime position.
Singles was a similar story.
Abby Johnson (Zimmerman, Minn./Homeschool) and
Taylar Smith (Litchfield, Minn./Litchfield), playing #3 and #4 singles respectively, secured quick wins; finishing with 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-3 scores. These performances put the Eagles up to a 4-2 lead. All that was missing was the match-deciding fifth point.
It was a race to the clinch between
Domiano Baideme (Lakeville, Minn./Lakeville North) at #2,
Rayna Baumgarn (Holmen, Wis./Holmen) at #5, and
Caitlyn Swigart (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) at #6. All three lost their first set and rattled off a quick second to bring them to a third set tiebreaker. Swigart and Baumgarn, placed on courts directly beside each other, were neck and neck for their whole tiebreakers.
It was Swigart who finally clinched, serving a match-winning ace mere seconds before Baumgarn won her final point as well.
Another match full of tiebreakers ended the Eagle's spring break campaign on a high note, leaving them looking ahead at the rest of their season's schedule.
Up next
Northwestern will fly home from Florida this weekend and compete in two matches next Saturday, March 18 in Owatonna at the West Hills Tennis & Fitness Center; first against Wartburg College at 9:30am and then against Morningside University at 5:00pm. Looking ahead, the Eagles conference season begins on April 1st against Bethany Lutheran.
