ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The third-seeded Bethel University women's tennis team opened the 2019 MIAC Playoffs with a quarterfinal shutout win over sixth-seeded St. Olaf Wednesday afternoon, 5-0.

Bethel matches a program single-season record 19 wins and is set to make its third consecutive appearance in the MIAC semifinals. BU will travel to No. 2-seeded Gustavus Adolphus on Friday, May 3 at 3:30 p.m.

The Royals jumped out to a 3-0 lead winning all three doubles matches with their usual lineup.

Batting chilly and overcast conditions the Royals continued to play strong in singles play. Mackenzie Novak never trailed in the No. 3 singles match. In the opening set Novak went up 3-0 before St. Olaf's Ellie Bergstrand tied it at 3-3. Novak worked her way back to break Bergstrand's serve and go up 5-3 before taking a nice drop shot and a forced error gave her the set 6-3. In the second set Novak cruised to a 6-2 win to put Bethel up 4-0.

Jill Weinzettel went the distance in the first set of the No. 4 singles match. Weinzettel jumped out to a 5-2 lead before the Oles Emily Otteson tied it at 6-6. Showing her endurance, Weinzettel battled to take the tiebreaker taking the opening set 7-6 (4). It was smooth sailing in the second where she broke her opponents serve on three separate occasions taking it 6-0 to give Bethel the victory.

Grace Riermann took the opening set of the top singles match 6-4 while Maggie Riermann went up 6-2 before both matches went unfinished. Sydney Rott at No. 5 Riermann went up 6-2 before both matches went unfinished. Sydney Rott at No. 5 led her opening set while Meghan Schuler was up a set at No. 6 before ending their matches early as well.