OWATONNA, Minn. - Saturday's goal for the University of Northwestern Women's Tennis team was simple: go 2-0 and secure a return to the UMAC Women's Tennis Tournament in Minneapolis next week. With the two teams directly behind them in the standings in their way, the Eagles held serve and rolled to a pair of wins despite a last-minute location change to Owatonna. UNW defeated Martin Luther College 6-1 and Crown College 7-0 to earn its place in the UMAC Tournament once again. Northwestern has never missed the conference postseason since the transition from NAIA to NCAA in 2008.
Match One: Martin Luther College Knights
Already with a 7-0, non-conference win in hand over Martin Luther from earlier in the season, Northwestern played confidently in Saturday's conference rematch. UNW's No. 1 (
Rein Hayashi (Kyoto, Japan/Kansai Christian School),
Sarah Langridge (Savage, Minn./Prior Lake)) and No. 3 (
Hannah Hyttsten (Becker, Minn./Becker),
Abby Cimenski (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids)) doubles teams both won by 6-3 scores to secure the doubles point, while the No. 2 team of
Aby Ross (Chico, Calif./Central) and
Anne Clarke (Granite Falls, Minn./Yellow Medicine East) gutted out a 7-5 victory to sweep the doubles portion of the morning.
The team captain,
Aby Ross (Chico, Calif./Central), set the tone in singles play with a dominant, 6-0, 6-1 win in the No. 3 match. Her doubles teammate, Clarke, cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 5, and Langridge did what Langridge does and secured a 6-1, 6-2 win to clinch not only the team win, but also a crucial, head-to-head tiebreaker. At No. 6 singles, Cimenski earned a 6-4, 6-1 win, while the final two matches went to third sets. In the No. 1 match, Hayashi lost the first set 6-1 before grinding out a 7-6 (7-3) win in the second set. However, she was unable to sustain the momentum, falling 6-4 in the third set. At No. 4, Hyttsten also overcame a first-set loss (4-6) to force a tiebreak after a 6-4 win in the second. The sophomore was able to prevail by a 10-7 score to make it a 6-1 final score.
Match Two: Crown College Polars
With the momentum of the morning's win on their side, the Eagles came out firing in the UMAC regular season finale against Crown. The doubles teams once again provided a clean sweep, beginning with Hayashi and Langridge winning 6-1 at No. 1. Ross and Clarke picked up a 6-2 win in the No. 2 match, and Hyttsten and Cimenski followed the pattern with a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles.
Singles play brought about more success for Northwestern, as all but one match finished in two sets. Hayashi (No. 1) and Langridge (No. 2) took care of business with 6-1, 6-3 wins, while Clarke held her ground with a 6-2, 6-1 win in the No. 5 spot. At No. 3, Ross brought home a 6-4, 6-2 win, and Cimenski prevailed 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 6 match. Hyttsten once again went to a third set, but once again found a way to win, 7-6, 5-7, 10-6, to finish off the 7-0 sweep, clinch the North Division's No. 2 seed in the UMAC Tournament, and close out conference play with a 4-1 mark.
Up Next
UNW will have one final regular season match on Tuesday, April 28th at home against UW-Stout. The UMAC Tournament kicks off Friday, May 1st at Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
