Mt. St. Mary's Box
Saginaw Valley Box
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Northern State University tennis squad dropped a pair of non-conference matches on Tuesday as part of a scheduled six-match spring break trip to Orlando. The Wolves fell by a 7-2 count to Mount St. Mary’s (N.Y.) in their first match before dropping a second match 9-0 to Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) to cap the day.
NSU’s remaining four matches in Florida were wiped out by rain.
MSM swept all three doubles matches to start Tuesday’s play, putting the Wolves down early. NSU was able to battle back in the first three singles matches, however, winning two of those three. Freshman Jamie Golden competed hard, but couldn’t pull out the overall victory.
Junior Megan Gilbraith and sophomore Bridget Henderson bounced back from their doubles losses to post singles match wins for NSU’s lone two victories of the day.
“We made a last-minute line-up change in doubles due to illness, and thus had No. 2 and No. 3 doubles playing with new partners,” said head coach Jessie Daw. “I think that impacted our ability to start strong, but also we were getting used to the heavier ball down at sea level. We didn’t play our best tennis as a team, but we were able to compete hard and I thought the players did the best they could with what they brought to the court in this match.”
The Wolves returned to the court to face Saginaw Valley State in their second match of the day, but again found the going tough. SVSU again swept all three doubles matches to start the contest, then was able to overpower the Wolves in the singles matches to clinch the victory.
“In our second match, we played better as a team,” said Daw. “Everyone came out of the gates strong and we challenged our opponents from the start. Although we lost all the doubles, the matches were actually closer than the scores indicated. We put ourselves in good positions, but had a bit of trouble closing points out. But it was definite improvement, which is what we are looking for.”
The Wolves now turn their attention back to Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents, facing off against St. Cloud State and Southwest Minnesota State on Sunday, March 21. Both matches will take place in St. Cloud, Minn. starting at 11 a.m. (SCSU) and 2 p.m. (SMSU).