SIOUX FALLS – For the fifth time in six seasons, the University of Sioux Falls Women's Tennis Team (7-8) has earned a berth and will compete in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Championships, which will be held at Lifetime Fitness in Minnetonka, Minn., on April 13-14.

The Cougars, which were picked fifth in the NSIC preseason coaches poll, finished in a tie at 6-5 for sixth place in the NSIC with Bemidji State (8-6) but earned the No. 6 seed due to a 4-1 win over the Beavers.

The Cougars, directed by veteran head coach Kevin Grebin, will match up with No. 3 seed Winona State (9-7) in the eight-team single elimination tournament. WSU finished 8-3 in league play. The quarterfinal matches will be held on Saturday (April 13) with the semifinals and finals set for Sunday (April 14). USF will face WSU at 11:30 a.m., on Saturday (April 13).

USF will look to return to the NSIC Championship semifinals for the first time since 2016. In that season, USF upset No. 3 seed SCSU, 5-2, in the quarterfinals, before falling to Upper Iowa, 5-1, in the semifinals. In 2018, the No. 6 USF squad fell to No. 3 Minnesota Moorhead, 5-1. USF did not qualify in 2017.

No. 2 seed MSU Moorhead (14-3, 10-1 NSIC) will face seventh seeded Bemidji State at 9 a.m. while No. 4 seed  Minnesota Duluth (11-4, 8-3 NSIC) will battle No. 5 seed U-Mary (13-4, 7-4 NSIC) at 4:30 p.m., also on April 13  All match start times are subject to change if matches run long. The semifinal matches will be held at 8 a.m. on Sunday, April 14 with the championship set for noon.

The winner of the USF-Winona State matchup will face the winner of the MSU-Moorhead/Bemidji State matchup.  Earlier this year (Feb. 22 in Winona, Minn.), USF, which has won four of its past six league matches, dropped a 5-2 decision to WSU. The Cougars trail WSU, 6-2, in their all-time series with the last USF win on April 3, 2016 by an 8-1 score. The UMD-UMary victor will face No. 1 seed and regular season champion Augustana (16-2, 11-0 NSIC).

The NCAA Central Region is comprised of the 29 teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (12), Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) (10), and the Great American Conference (GAC) (7). The post season tournament winner from each conference receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament on May 13-14 and will be joined by the next three highest ranked teams in the final rankings. Two teams from each of the eight regions will advance to the final site, which will be played May 22-25 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Florida.  The NCAA women's tennis selections will be announced on Tuesday, May 7 at www.NCAA.com.

Individual Notes -- Jefferies leads USF with 9-4 mark at No. 1 singles
Redshirt sophomore Chloe Jefferies, who a year ago put together the best season by a USF Women's Tennis player in the NCAA DII era with a 14-3 mark and 10-1 in the NSIC, has had another strong season with a 9-4 mark at No. 1 singles. She is 6-3 in league play.  She stands 23-7 overall and 16-4 all-time in NSIC play in her career at USF. She has won four straight matches in straight sets and won 48-of-56 total games played. In fact she has won seven of her last eight matches and only lost to Kristine Gegeshidze of Charleston in a tiebreaker.

At No. 2 singles, sophomore Megan Quandt is 6-8 and has four straight set victories this year. Against Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State, she won 24-of-26 games in singles competition as she won in straight sets. She is now 8-24 in her career and 6-15 in league play.   
 
At No. 3 singles, sophomore Lexi Miller is 3-9 on the season (3-6 in NSIC play) and now has a 12-17 overall mark with a 10-10 NSIC record. 
 
Newcomer Victoria Ambrosio-Cueto has a 4-7 singles mark at No. 4 singles. Ambrosia-Cueto, who is 3-4 in NSIC play, has won two of her past four matches.
 
Joelle Thorfinnson, who has won four straight set singles matches at No. 5, has moved to 8-4 on the season and has a 7-3 mark at No. 5 singles. She is 1-1 at No. 4. She is now 19-10 in her career in singles with a 13-6 league mark. At No. 5, she is now 14-5 with a 3-2 mark at No. 4.
 
Sophomore Kelsie Sanders is 4-6 on the season and 14-22 overall in her career. She is 7-13 in league play.  For the first time in her career, she played at No. 1 singles in USF 6-1 win over Minnesota Crookston. Sanders rolled to a straight set win at that spot. Sanders will wrap up her career at USF at these league championships
 
Also for USF Tiffany Ross (No. 5 singles) and Brianna Whisler (No. 4 singles) stand 1-0 in singles. Emily Applegate is 1-1 at singles (1-0 at No. 3 and 0-1 at No. 6).  Rachel Klatt is 1-3 in singles and 3-3 I n her career.

Jefferies/Thorfinnson and Miller/Quandt doubles tandems both finish year strong

In doubles Jefferies is now 15-13 in doubles for her career. This year she is 4-6 at No. 1 doubles. In the last two matches she has paired with Thorfinnson in No. 1 doubles and won both matches. Thorfinnson is now 6-5 this year and 16-13 all-time in doubles.

Quandt is now 3-10 this year and 13-19 in doubles matches in her career.  She and Miller, who is 15-16 in her career and 6-7 this year (11-10 in NSIC play in career and 5-5 this year), have teamed up to go 2-0 (2-1 overall) in the last two matches.
Rachel Klatt is 3-7 this year and 14-13 in her career in doubles.  Ambrosia-Cueto is 4-5 this year and in her career in doubles.  USF's best doubles team has been Ambrosio-Cueto and Sanders who stand 4-1 at No. 3 doubles.