BISMARCK, N.D. - Hosting their first matches of the season, the University of Mary Women's Tennis team will take on the University of Minnesota Duluth starting at 1 PM on Saturday, February 13, before going up against St. Cloud State University starting at 12 PM on Sunday, February 14.
The Marauders (0-1, 0-1 NSIC) are coming off a hard-fought loss to Minnesota State University Moorhead in a match that lastest well over two hours, while the Bulldogs (0-2, 0-0 NSIC) and the Huskies (0-2, 0-0 NSIC) also search for their first win of the 2016 season.
U-Mary was barely edged by Minnesota Duluth last year as the Bulldogs took the win at 5-4 with the Marauders missing their No. 1 singles performer
Sarah Janes.
Catherine Gibbens,
Meredith Holt,
Anastasia Bruss, and
Eileen Leong all came away with victories in the singles matchups while the Bulldogs clinched the match with the final two singles matches of the day as well as the three doubles matchups. The Marauders also lost to the Huskies though the final score was 8-1 in favor of St. Cloud State as U-Mary got their lone win from Gibbens over El O'Brien in the No. 1 singles spot.
The Marauders are looking to rebound from last week's match to the Dragons where Gibbens took on Jade Goodyear in a matchup turned battle of attrition as neither player gave ground in the match. Goodyear took the first set at 7-6, needing the extra point as Gibbens force the tie, while Gibbens dropped the second set at 6-4 after another series of tough points that took extended time to decide.
Janes missed out on the majority of last year due to injury but looks to return for her senior year with a strong performance despite dropping her first matchup of the year to Jessamy Jones at 6-4 and 6-4 in the previous week. Jones would go on to earn the first NSIC Player of the Week Award for her performance over the weekend.
Next week, U-Mary will head out on the road to take on the University of Sioux Falls and Augustana University for continuing NSIC action starting on Saturday, February 21. The Marauders will have another week of NSIC action before making a trip down to Florida for a handful of non-conference matches starting on March 1.
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