[Results]   [Coaches Corner with Coach Fernelius]

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The Bethel University women's tennis team's upset bid of St. Olaf College fell just short Tuesday evening at the Ona Orth Athletic Complex tennis courts. The Royals took a 2-1 lead after the doubles competition but several close matches went the Oles way in singles play and the Royals fell 6-3.

Bethel's No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams came out on top by scores of 8-3 and 8-5. Abby Edin and Lisa Scheevel improved to 3-2 in MIAC play this season with their win at No. 1 doubles. Abby Kreklau and Kayla Wheeler were the winning No. 3 doubles team. Steph Brown and Kristin Vivian fell 5-8 at No. 2 doubles.

The Royals 2-1 lead following doubles play did not stand up long as the Oles scored a pair of quick wins at No. 6 and No. 1 singles but Kayla Wheeler provided a big win for Bethel 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5. Wheeler has the best singles winning percentage on the season for Bethel with an overall record of 9-3.  With the score tied at 3-3 the Royals saw their hopes of winning slowly deteriorate as Steph Brown and Kristin Vivian lost a pair of very close matches in two sets. Brown was defeated 2-6, 5-7 at No. 4 singles and Vivian fell 3-6, 4-6 at No. 3 singles. Lisa Scheevel was the last Royal to finish, as she battled at No. 2 singles but came up just short, 5-7, 5-7 to St. Olaf's Julia Ellis, who is undefeated in MIAC singles play.

The Royals fell to 2-5 in MIAC play with all five losses coming at the hands of the top five teams in the MIAC standings, including St. Olaf, who improved to 4-1 and sits in fourth place. The Royals three remaining matches will come against Macalester, Hamline and Concordia, who are all winless in MIAC play as Bethel makes a push for their first MIAC playoff appearance. The top six teams make the conference tournament with the Royals currently in seventh position but holding the head-to-head tie-breaker against sixth place Saint Benedict.

Bethel will host Macalester College tonight indoors at the Lakeville Lifetime Fitness at 5:30 p.m. The Royals are then scheduled to host Hamline next Tuesday before traveling to Concordia for the final match on Saturday, April 27th.