University of Sioux Falls tennis coach Kevin Grebin was hoping that his Cougars would put together one more complete match before the end of the conference season.
USF did just that this weekend—twice—beating the University of Minnesota Crookston (7-2) and Bemidji State (8-1) at Choice Health & Fitness in Grand Forks, N.D.
The Cougars improved to 8-9 overall and 5-6 in the league loop. The two wins also jumped the Cougars to seventh in the conference standings to secure their spot in the 2014 NSIC women's tennis postseason tournament.
“The girls played their best two matches of the season this weekend,” said coach Kevin Grebin. “We were in ninth place, on the outside looking in, going into the weekend, so for them to come out and finish the NSIC schedule with pair of convincing wins is pretty good timing.”
Against the Golden Eagles (4-12, 1-10 NSIC), the Cougars took two of three doubles matches with the senior tandem of Karlee Sieve and Julia Iversen beating UMC's Casey Paris and Holly Roepke, 8-3 at No. 2.
The freshman phenom duo of Abby Seigenthaler and Kara Bunkers had the most dominating match, bagelling Sarah Muellner and Anna Yuhala on court three.
Catherine Brown and Katelyn Johnson earned a point for the Golden Eagles by defeating Joey Bosch and Stacey Beard at top flight, 8-5.
The Cougars then controlled things in singles play for the win. Sioux Falls won five of the six singles matches, all in straight sets. Bosch topped Johnson at No. 1 (7-5, 6-0), while Stacey Beard fell at No. 2 to Brown (6-3, 6-2). USF dominated on the lower courts, with both Molly Seigenthaler (No. 4) and freshman Haylie Noha (No. 6) posting double bagels over their respective opponents while Emily Erickson recorded a double breadstick versus Holly Roepke in third flight. At no. 4, Morgan DeLange handled Sarah Muellner (6-3, 6-1) to create the final margin.
Energized by a doubles sweep, the Cougars then routed the Bemidji State Beavers, 8-1. USF surrendered just seven points in doubles play, while Bunkers and Seigenthaler shut-out their No. 3 adversaries for the second straight match to finish the NSIC regular season a remarkable 10-1 and extend their No. 3 doubles winning streak to 10 matches in a row.
One victory came in come-from-behind fashion for the Cougars. Bosch dropped the first set 6-1 to BSU's Shaylin Prout at No. 1 singles before storming back for a 6-3, 10-6 victory. Emily Erickson lost a nailbiter at second flight to Caley Westin (7-6 {7-5} 7-6 {7-4}) but Molly Seigenthaler clinched the match with a straight sets win (6-3, 6-2) over Mikela Kowatsch on court four. Stacey Beard topped Deanie Hatch 6-4, 6-3 at No. 2 singles.
Also for USF, DeLange double-bageled her No. 5 singles opponent and Bunkers rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 win in sixth flight.
"I think the way we have responded to not our best matches has been the most gratifying for me," he explains. "We took some tough losses throughout the year, but we've almost always followed up with really good performances,” said Grebin.
“We went a combined 24-3 in the three matches since what was a very disappointing loss to Moorhead and I think that shows that we're great competitors and that the team expects a lot of itself,” he added. “And that's a good feeling to have heading into the conference tournament."
USF was scheduled to play the University of South Dakota tomorrow at McKennan Park, but anticipated cold temps have forced a postponement. The Cougars will travel to Orange City on April 23 to square off against their old NAIA/GPAC rival Northwestern College. The 2014 NSIC tournament will be held April 26-27 in Minnetonka, Minn.
