BISMARCK, N.D. - With the squad finally getting back to full strength with the return of Sarah Janes, the University of Mary Women's Tennis team took on the University of Sioux Falls in the weekend finale of the Marauder's home matches.
 
The match came down to the number three singles matchup between Meredith Holt and Stacey Beard, but Holt's efforts along with Janes coming back from a 6-1 deficit in the super tiebreaker, the Marauders (1-5, 1-5 NSIC) earned their first victory of the 2015 season over the Cougars (2-2, 1-2 NSIC), in a narrow 5-4 match.
 
Janes had missed the first four matches for the Marauders due to injury but she finally made her way back to the court and responded with an impressive performance at the number one singles spot against Alison Kauss.
 
Janes took the first set easily with a 6-2 win, but was forced to a tiebreaker set after Kauss won the second set 6-3. In the tiebreaker set, Janes found herself in a 6-1 hole, but showed her opponent why she is in the number one singles spot and fought tooth-and-nail to tie the score back up and eventually earn the victory with a deciding 11-9 score.
 
However, her match turned out to be an appetizer as the deciding match was between Holt and Beard. Holt fell in the first set 6-2, and fought back by forcing plenty of deuces in the second set before coming away with the 7-5 victory. It was only fitting that the match between the Marauders and Cougars came down to the tiebreaker set in the final matchup, but Holt composed herself and came up with shots when she needed them and pulled away for a 10-6 victory in the tiebreaker set, giving the Marauders a 5-4 victory on the day.
 
Yet as the match came to a crescendo in the number three singles matchup, it was only a cherry on top of Sunday's match as there was another match that went to tiebreaker between Eileen Leong and Kara Bunkers at the number five singles matchup.
 
Leong took the first set handily at 6-3 but fell in the second set 6-4, forcing the match to go to tiebreaker. Leong settled down and continued her impressive play as she took the tiebreaker set 10-6, giving the Marauders another notch on their belt towards their first match victory.
 
The other two wins came at the number two and number six singles spots from Catherine Gibbens and Courtney Brackin. Gibbens filled in well for Janes while she was recovering from injury and improved her season record with a commanding 6-4, and 6-3 victory over Joey Bosch at the number two spot. Brackin has been demonstrating her abilities in every match so far and she got her first match victory of the year against Morgan Robey with a 6-4, and 6-1 win over the Cougar.
 
Anastasia Bruss got the call at the number four singles spot but had her hands full with Emily Erikson and unfortunately fell 6-3, and 6-0 to the Sioux Falls player.
 
The Marauders are still searching for their first doubles victory of the year as the duo of Janes and Gibbens were outdone by Erickson and Kauss at the number one spot, 8-3. Leong and Holt couldn't contain Beard and Bosch at the numbe two spot and fell 8-6. Finally, Bruss and Kate O'Connell got the call at the number three spot but fell 8-3 to the Cougar team of Bunkers and Abby Seigenthaler.
 
The Marauders finished out the home portion of their schedule and will be on the road next week when they take on Minnesota State University on Friday, February 27, and Southwest Minnesota State University on Saturday, February 28.
 
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