BISMARCK, N.D. - Returning to the court after a two-week hiatus, the University of Mary Women's Tennis team will resume the NSIC portion of their schedule this Sunday, April 3, when they take on Bemidji State University at 9 AM, followed by a contest against the University of Minnesota Crookston at 12:30 PM.
 
The Marauders (4-8, 2-5 NSIC) last saw action March 13 where they dominated Concordia College (Minn.) in a 9-0 sweep for the fifth shutout while under the direction of head coach Vida Saliendra.
 
The sweep included impressive performances by Catherine Gibbens and Meredith Holt, who mirrored each other as Gibbens defeated Brittany Glatt at 6-0, 6-1, while Holt cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kendra Stoick. Anastasia Bruss took home a win at 6-1, 6-2 against Jade Haseltine, while Eileen Leong had the closest match of the day and still came out on top at 6-1, 3-6, 10-6 against Lisa Neumann.
 
Rounding out the bottom of the lineup, Shanna Stevenson took a win in straight sets over Susan Zniewski at 6-2, 6-3, while Cristina Bremar completed the singles sweep over Breann Adamek at 6-2, 6-3.
 
As for the doubles competition, U-Mary had a strong start with an 8-1 win from Gibbens and Leong over Glatt and Haseltine, Bruss and Monica Benda took the 8-4 win over Stoick and Neumann, while Holt and Stevenson pitched an 8-0 shutout against Zniewski and Adamek for the team sweep.
 
On the year so far, Gibbens owns the best singles record for the Marauders as she is 8-4 overall, 4-3 in NSIC matches, and is followed closely by Sarah Janes with a 4-6, 4-3 NSIC record, and Leong with a 5-7, 3-4 NSIC record on the season. Gibbens and Leong have teamed up for a 5-7, 3-4 NSIC record in doubles matches, while Bruss and Benda are 5-6 overall, 3-4 in NSIC matches, for the second best mark.
 
The Beavers (8-4, 3-4 NSIC) had taken a stride up the standings as they own wins over Minnesota Crookston, the University of Minnesota Duluth on two occasions, a win over Winona State University, and also recorded a 9-0 sweep of the Cobbers on March 5. Zoe Lindgren and Morgan Opp lead the way as they each have a 9-2 overall record, though Lindgren features a 5-2 mark in conference matches at the number three and four singles spots, while Opp is 4-2 in the NSIC split between the number two and three singles spots.
 
Lindgren and Opp also feature an impressive doubles record as they are 9-2, 5-2 NSIC on the year so far, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the next closest Beaver duo of Deanie Hatch and Shaylin Prout with a 4-4, 2-3 NSIC mark.
 
The Golden Eagles (0-11, 0-7 NSIC) are still searching for their first win as they haven't recorded more than two wins in a single match as they dropped their opener to Bemidji State at a 7-2 mark and couldn't find the winning combination against Minnesota Duluth with another 7-2 final score. Additionally, the Golden Eagles have been swept in four conference matches on the year so far, coming against St. Cloud State University, Upper Iowa University, Augustana University, and the University of Sioux Falls.
 
Despite the team mark, Minnesota Crookston does have a strong player at the number one singles spot in Catherine Brown as she is 6-5 overall, 3-4 in NSIC matches on the year so far as she has competed at the top spot in all 11 of the Golden Eagles' matches. After Brown, Whitney Erickson is the only other Golden Eagle to record a win on the season as she is 2-9, 1-6 NSIC, on the year so far, while the remaining athletes are still searching for their first win for the year.
 
The Marauders experienced success against both teams during the 2015 season as U-Mary swept the Golden Eagles at 9-0, and took the tough win at 5-4 against the Beavers. U-Mary convincingly won out against Minnesota Crookston as no Marauder gave up more than three points in any singles or doubles match.
 
The contest against the Beavers was like night and day for U-Mary when compared to the Minnesota Crookston matchup as both teams were evenly matched at 4-4 with the number three singles becoming the deciding factor on the day. Holt took the first set at 6-3 against Caley Westin, but dropped the second set at 6-3 to the Beaver to force the super tiebreaker.
 
Holt eventually won out in the tiebreaker set at 12-10 to secure the fourth win of the season with one week to play, but unfortunately the Marauders couldn't carry the momentum from their 3-1 record in the last two weeks of the regular season as they fell to Upper Iowa in the opening round of the NSIC tournament.
 
Next week will be the last in the regular season as the Marauders make their longest trip of the year out to Winona, Minn., to take on Winona State on Saturday, April 9 at 4 PM, followed by a match against Upper Iowa on Sunday, April 10 at 9 AM.
 
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