WINONA, Minn. - Wrapping up the regular season on the road, the University of Mary Women's Tennis team will head east for their longest trip of the season as they prepare to take on Winona State University and Upper Iowa University.
 
The Marauders (5-9, 3-6 NSIC) have won three of their past four matches and are fresh off a weekend split where they were edged out by Bemidji State University at 5-4, but rebounded for their second sweep of the season at 9-0 against the University of Minnesota Crookston.
 
Sarah Janes and Meredith Holt got the ball rolling against the Beavers as they took an 8-6 decision over Morgan Opp and Zoe Lindgren at the number one doubles, followed by a solid performance from Anastasia Bruss and Monica Benda at number three doubles with a 8-5 win over Claudia Bellow and Justine Scheller.
 
Bemidji State battled right back and took number two doubles, along with number three, four, five and six singles, while Janes bested Shaylin Prout at number one singles with a 6-4, 6-3 victory, followed by Catherine Gibbens' 6-4, 7-5 win over Deanie Hatch at number two singles.
 
Refusing to back down in the second match against the Golden Eagles, U-Mary followed up with a dominating team win where the closest match of the day came at number one singles with Janes overtaking Catherine Brown at 7-5 in the first set before sweeping the second set at 6-0.
 
The remaining matches on the day never got as close as Holt, Bruss, Eileen Leong, and Shanna Stevenson gave up a combined two points during their matches with Leong and Stevenson earning the sweeps of 6-0, 6-0 at number five and six singles, respectively.
 
Janes' effort was rewarded with the NSIC Player of the Week Award with a perfect 4-0 record between singles and doubles matches to improve her NSIC record to 6-3 on the year while anchoring the top spot. Janes is in her final year for the Marauders and is 30-19 over her four years in the women's tennis program in singles competition, 25-30 in doubles.
 
Gibbens has improved in leaps and bounds in her third year with a team-best mark of 10-4 in singles matches to go with a 6-8 mark in doubles matches. For her career she is sitting at a 26-19 singles record, 16-31 in doubles competition. Gibbens has spent most of the year at the number two singles spot and has led U-Mary in a couple of matches at the number one spot, giving the Marauders a preview of the 2017 season.
 
This will be a homecoming of sorts for Holt as her hometown of La Crosse, Wis., is just down the road from Winona, Minn., where she was the 2013 Player of the Year for her high school team and has helped the Marauders in her three years, including U-Mary's best finish in school history back in 2014 where they finished 2nd in the NSIC and fell just short in the conference championship to Augustana University. For the year, Holt is 5-9 in singles matches and 7-7 in doubles matches to put her career totals at 21-20 in singles and 20-25 in doubles.
 
Bruss is half of U-Mary's best doubles pair with her 7-6 record in doubles competition while teamed with Benda at number three and has faced tough competition between the number three and four singles as she currently owns a 3-11 record on the year so far. For her career, Bruss is 18-27 in singles matches and 21-26 in doubles matches for the Marauders.
 
Nearing the end of her second year, Leong has doubled her win total from her freshman year on the court with a 6-8 record in singles competition with one week to play, and has improved in strides with her 6-8 record in doubles competition as the other half of the number two doubles team with Gibbens.
 
Stevenson has only recently broken onto the scene as U-Mary's number six singles competitor and has responded well with a 4-5 record on the year so far as she secures the backend of the starting singles rotation.
 
The Warriors (2-9, 2-7 NSIC) have defeated Minnesota Crookston and Southwest Minnesota State University back in February, but have struggled to find the winning combination as they have dropped seven straight matches, including a 9-0 and 8-1 loss to Augustana and the University of Sioux Falls in the previous week.
 
Justine Daane and Rachel Gantz have been the bright spots on the year for Winona State as they both own a 6-5 record while leading the top of the rotation at the number one and two spots, respectively. They also team up for the best doubles record at 5-6 as the preeminent pair for the Warriors, but represent more than half of the team win totals in doubles competition. U-Mary took the lone match last year between the teams as the Marauders won the match in Fargo, N.D., at 6-3 prior to the start of the NSIC Tournament.
 
The Peacocks (9-8, 8-1 NSIC) are currently reeling a bit as they have one win in their last four matches, but have otherwise dominated their conference schedule with their only loss coming from Augustana last week. The Peacocks have four sweeps in the conference schedule with the 9-0 wins coming against Minnesota Crookston, Southwest Minnesota State, the University of Minnesota Duluth, and Winona State.
 
Upper Iowa has solid depth from top to bottom as their top five singles players have yet to lose four matches in the NSIC. Sake Kawabata leads the way with an 8-1 record at number one, Isabella Sella is right behind with an 8-1 record at the number two spot, Jemina Lynn Sorman is 6-3 at the number three spot, Kelly Jachymowski is 7-2 at number four, and Anna Okolot is 7-2 at number five.
 
As if their singles prowess wasn't enough, the Peacocks also feature one of the top doubles team in the NSIC as Kawabat and Jachymowski are a perfect 7-0 in conferences matches as the number one doubles team, while Okolot and Yulla Prokopyshyn are 6-1 at the number three doubles spot. U-Mary's season was abruptly ended in 2015 at the hands of the Peacocks as Upper Iowa took the match in the final week of the regular season at 8-1 and followed up with a first-round victory at 5-0, sending the Marauders back to Bismarck empty handed.
 
U-Mary's next stop after this final week will be the NSIC Tournament starting on April 23, but the Marauders will need to finish in the top eight in the conference standings in order to earn an invite. Right now they are sitting in the ninth spot at 3-6 in conference play, right behind Minnesota Duluth at 3-5. The Bulldogs will take on Sioux Falls, Augustana, and St. Cloud State University in this final weekend of NSIC play.
 
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