WINONA, Minn. - As they are no strangers to tough competition throughout the regular season, the University of Mary Women's Tennis team took on Upper Iowa University this morning to wrap up the final weekend of conference play.
 
The Marauders (6-10, 4-7 NSIC) were overwhelmed through the majority of the matches against the Peacocks (11-8, 10-1 NSIC) but ensured they went down with a fight as they dropped the final Northern Sun match at 8-1, putting them in the eighth spot for the conference tournament in two weeks.
 
Upper Iowa jumped out to an early lead, though, and never looked back as Saki Kawabata and Isabella Sella clinched the number one double matchup against Sarah Janes and Meredith Holt at 8-0, setting the tone for the remainder of the day.
 
Catherine Gibbens and Eileen Leong were tied midway through against Kelly Jachymowski and Anna Okolot at 3-3, but couldn't hold on as the Peacock pair took the number two doubles decision at 8-4.
 
Anastasia Bruss and Monica Benda turned in the top performance of the day for the Marauders even though they fell behind early to the Upper Iowa duo of Jemina Lynn Sorman and Yulia Porkopyshyn, but fought right back to force the tiebreaker in the lone set and eventually clinched the only win of the day for U-Mary at 9-8, preventing the doubles sweep.
 
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with the singles competition as Upper Iowa laid claim to wins in every matchup from one through six. U-Mary fought tooth-and-nail all the way, though, starting with Janes battling for the long points with Kawabata before the Peacock could clinch at 6-4, 6-2; followed by Gibbens expending every last ounce of effort against Sella before Sella took the win at another 6-4, 6-2 clip.
 
Holt battled with Jachymowski but couldn't stem the tide and lost the match at 6-1, 6-3; Bruss was unable to carry her momentum from her doubles match into the singles competition as she lost to Sorman at 6-3, 6-1; Leong battled back-and-forth with Okolot but couldn't make a dent in the Peacock's attack as Okolot took the win at 6-1, 6-1; and Shanna Stevenson was unable to recapture her super tiebreaker magic from the day before as Prokopyshyn completed the singles sweep at 6-2, 6-0, finalizing the team score at 8-1.
 
With their final conference record set at 4-7 and already owning the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Marauders cement their place in the NSIC Tournament scheduled for April 23 as the eighth seed. The tourney will be played at the Lifetime Fitness Oakdale in Minnetonka, Minn., with U-Mary's match scheduled for 2 PM.
 
Upper Iowa 8, University of Mary 1
 
Singles competition
1. Kawabata, Saki (UIU) def. Janes, Sarah (MARY) 6-4, 6-2
2. Sella, Isabella (UIU) def. Gibbens, Catherine (MARY) 6-4, 6-2
3. Jachymowski, Kelly (UIU) def. Holt, Meredith (MARY) 6-1, 6-3
4. Sorman, Jemina Lynn (UIU) def. Bruss, Anastasia (MARY) 6-3, 6-1
5. Okolot, Anna (UIU) def. Leong, Eileen (MARY) 6-1, 6-1
6. Prokopyshyn, Yulia (UIU) def. Stevenson, Shanna (MARY) 6-2, 6-0
 
Doubles competition
1. Kawabata, Saki/Sella, Isabella (UIU) def. Janes, Sarah/Holt, Meredith (MARY) 8-0
2. Jachymowski, Kelly/Okolot, Anna (UIU) def. Gibbens, Catherine/Leong, Eileen (MARY) 8-4
3. Bruss, Anastasia/Benda, Monica (MARY) def. Sorman, Jemina Lynn/Prokopyshyn, Yulia (UIU) 9-8
 
#marauders#