The University of Sioux Falls women's tennis team dropped its first two matches of 2012 on Saturday in St. Peter, Minn. Minnesota State-Mankato blanked the Cougars a 9-0 loss Saturday morning, before UM-Duluth handed USF a 7-2 loss Saturday afternoon.
In the morning match, Kathryn Gavin gave Mankato an early lead in singles with a 6-1, 6-1 win over USF sophomore Rachel Hussey in the number one singles match-up. The Mavericks swept the next five singles matches to sweep the singles points.
Gavin kept things rolling for the Mavericks, notching an 8-1 win (with Shealyn Bakke) over USF's Rachel Hussey and Karlee Sieve in the top doubles contest. Mankato's Joey Boesch and Brandi Dohmen came away with a narrow 8-6 win over Morgan DeLange and Julia Iversen in the number two doubles slot and the Mavericks took the no. three doubles match by forfeit to secure the 9-0 victory.
The Cougars shook off the rust and played an energized afternoon match against the UMD Bulldogs.
"The team played much better against Duluth," head tennis coach Kevin Grebin said. "The girls could have been a little down after the morning match, but instead they came out energized and played with a lot of heart."
Bolf put the Bulldogs ahead with a straight sets (6-1, 6-1) win over USF's Rachel Hussey in the top singles match. In the number two slot, Cougar sophomore Karlee Sieve lost to Thompson in a super-tiebreak (2-6, 6-2, (10-6)). The Cougars got on the board when freshman Morgan DeLange bested Saemaan, 6-2, 6-0, at number three singles for the first victory of her collegiate career. Brunell defeated USF's Julia Iversen (6-1, 6-1) at number four and Bulldog Stensrud edged Caitlin Vance at number five, 6-4, 6-2.
The Cougars had their most impressive showing in doubles play against the Bulldogs. UMD's Bolt/Thompson notched an 8-6 win over Sieve/DeLange in the top doubles contest but Rachel Hussey and Julia Iversen came away with an 8-2 win over Saemaan/Brunell to knot the doubles at one apiece.
The Cougars forfeited at number six singles and number three doubles (no entrants) to create the final 7-2 margin.
"I'm very proud of how we played on Saturday," Grebin added. "If a couple of points in the number one doubles match and the number two and five singles matches had gone our way, we could have beaten Duluth, 5-4."
USF (0-2) will face Upper Iowa Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
