ResultsBLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The Bethel University women's tennis team defeated Macalester College by a 7-2 score Wednesday in a long, late night, hard fought match at the Bloomington Lifetime Fitness. The Royals were able to pull of their second consecutive doubles sweep, including a pair of wins in tie breakers. Bethel's No. 5 and No. 6 singles players were able to quickly dispatch of their opponents to give the Royals the match victory while all four of the top singles matches were long, hard fought battles.
"We pulled out a marathon match in what was probably our best match of the year," said Royals head coach
Drew Fernelius. "They were a good team and I am just really proud of the girls. For a team that has struggled this year in doubles, we won tonight because of our doubles, pulling out two huge tiebreakers."
The Royals No. 3 doubles team of
Kourtney Jakubic and Maddy Simpson came out with Bethel's first point of the night in a well-played 8-3 victory. At No. 1 doubles,
Abby Edin and
Kristin Vivian were down 3-7 before coming back to win 9-8 (7-4). The No. 2 doubles match was a back and forth affair that lasted an hour and twenty minutes before
Amanda Johnson and
Abby Kreklau outlasted their opponent 9-8 (8-6) to give the Royals their third point.
Kourtney Jakubic at No. 5 singles and
Larissa Voss at No. 6 singles both won easily at 6-2, 6-1 to seal the match victory for Bethel. The other four singles matches were much closer as the Royals and Scots split the four points.
Abby Edin won her opening set soundly at 6-0 and pulled out a 7-6 (7-4) second set victory.
Amanda Johnson was able to come back after losing the first set to win 4-6, 6-1, (10-3) at No. 3 singles.
Abby Kreklau came up just short in a hard fought match at No. 4 singles, 3-6, 4-6. At No. 2 singles
Kristin Vivian won the first set 7-6 (11-9). The second set went to Macalester in a tie break 6-7 (3-7) before the match had to be shortened due to the club closing. Vivian lost a shortened tie breaker in the third set (4-7), giving Macalester their second point of the night.
"This team really could have gotten down after so many close losses this year," coach Fernelius said. "It is really nice to see them get rewarded with some wins to close out the year. Our goal of finishing with three victories is still intact going into the last match with Concordia."
Bethel finishes the season on Saturday at home, hosting the Cobbers from Concordia at 10 a.m. at the Ona Orth Tennis Courts.
