[Results]
LAKEVILLE, Minn. – The Bethel University women's tennis team pulled out a huge 5-4 win over Macalester College Wednesday night at the Lakeville Lifetime Fitness Center. The Royals once again won 2-1 in the doubles matches and the depth of their singles lineup showed, with No. 4-6 singles all coming out victorious in straight sets. The No. 1-3 singles matches were all lost in third set tie-breakers.
“We are very happy to win,” Royals coach
Drew Fernelius said. “Macalester played really well but the key was our win at No. 1 doubles after being down 6-7 they came back to win 9-7 which was huge.”
The Royals No. 1 doubles team of
Abby Edin and
Lisa Scheevel came out on top for the second night in a row, improving to 4-2 in MIAC play. Also improving to 4-2 in MIAC play were the No. 3 doubles tandem of
Abby Kreklau and
Kayla Wheeler who won 8-3.
“We really count on the No. 3 doubles team and they always deliver,” explained coach Fernelius.
The Royals were forced to shuffle their singles lineup when No. 4 singles player, senior
Steph Brown, was unable to play due to sickness.
Kayla Wheeler and
Amanda Johnson each moved up a slot and
Charise Kendrick moved into the No. 6 singles spot. All three were victorious in straight sets with Kendrick the most impressive, winning 6-0, 6-0.
“With Steph being sick, Charise stepped in and did a great job,” coach Fernelius said.
The top three singles matches went down to the wire with the Royals coming out on the losing end each time.
Abby Edin fell 6-2, 4-6, (10-4), at No. 1 singles.
Lisa Scheevel fell 4-6, 7-5, (10-1), at No. 2, while
Kristin Vivian lost 0-6, 7-6 (7-5), (10-5) at No. 3 singles.
With the win the Royals (7-8, 3-5 MIAC) have now defeated two teams picked to finish ahead of them in the MIAC coaches pre-season poll. With wins in their final two matches and a loss by Saint Benedict on Friday against St. Olaf, Bethel would find themselves in the MIAC playoffs for the first time in program history.
The Royals will host Hamline University (2-10, 0-7 MIAC) at the Ona Orth Athletic Complex Tuesday, April 23rd at 4:30 p.m. Bethel is scheduled to travel to Concordia College (0-11, 0-5 MIAC) in Moorhead, Minn., next Saturday for their final match.
