FARGO, N.D. - Wrapping up the non-conference portion of their schedule, the University of Mary Women's Tennis team will pay a visit out east to take on Concordia College (Minn.) this Sunday, March 13.
 
The Marauders (3-8) are fresh off their spring break trip where they left the chilly north for the sunny skies of Orlando, Fla., for four matches in four day. U-Mary finished the trip at a 1-3 clip after dropping the first match to #27 Rollins College at 9-0, lost the second to Augustana College (Ill.) at 7-2, fell to Otterbein University at 6-3, but wrapped up the trip on a high note with a 7-2 win against Ave Maria University.
 
Catherine Gibbens finished with the best singles record for the Marauders during the trip as she went 3-1 on the week with wins against Dana Goggin from Augustana, Rylie Markle from Otterbein, and Mary Kathryn Lee from Ave Maria. She split time between the number one and two singles spots and her lone victory at the top spot was a 6-4, 6-0 win against Markle, but save her best match at the second spot against Goggin where the Marauder fought back from a two-set deficit to force the super tiebreaker and took home the win at 1-6, 7-5, 10-8.
 
Meredith Holt went 2-2 on the week to help U-Mary's efforts as she took the wins against Sophie Allen from Otterbein and Camila Branstner from Ave Maria; and had the best doubles record on the week as she teamed up with Sarah Janes to defeat the Viking duo of Cailtyn Schaffer and Madeline Lombardi, and took home a win with Lisa Anderson against the Cardinal twosome of Allen and Megan Yates.
 
The Marauders saved their best team performance for the final match against the Gyrenes as Gibbens and Eileen Leong took the 8-0 win against Branstner and Caitlin Constance at the number two doubles spot, while Anastasia Bruss and Monica Benda cruised to an 8-1 win against Alexandra Lis-Planells and Mary Hardin for a 2-1 U-Mary lead going into the singles matches.
 
Gibbens got the ball rolling in the singles competition as her match against Lee went to super tiebreaker that was won by the Marauder for a 6-4, 4-6, 10-2 win, while Holt, Bruss, Leong, and Shanna Stevenson sealed the team victory as they each defeated their opponents in convincing fashion.
 
Holt took a 6-3, 6-2 decision against Branstner at the third spot, Bruss provided a dominant effort at the fourth spot against Constance at a 6-2, 6-0 clip, Leong followed suit with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Lis-Planells, and Stevenson rounded out the day with a hard-fought 6-1, 7-5 win over Katie Trudeau.
 
The Cobbers (0-9) are still searching for their first win of the regular season as eight of their nine matches have come by a 9-0 decision with their only non-sweep loss coming against Hamline University back on February 6, where Concordia lost 7-2 to the Pipers.
 
Kendra Stoick at the second singles spot and the duo of Stoick and Lisa Neumann at the second doubles spot took the only wins in their match against Hamline as Stoick defeated Emily Butler at a 6-4, 6-1 clip, while the duo of Stoick and Neumann defeated Lilli Denison and Elizabeth Hughes in a close 8-6 match.
 
Despite being in season for about a month, the Marauders are nearing the end of their 2016 schedule as the resume the NSIC portion with the final home matches of the year on April 3, starting at 9 AM against Bemidji State University, and will follow up with a match at 12:30 on the same day against the University of Minnesota, Crookston.
 
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