MANKATO, Minn. – After a three week lay-off, the Northern State University tennis squad returned to the courts in dramatic fashion on Friday, claiming an 8-1 victory over Bethany Lutheran College in a neutral-site match. In the process, the Wolves picked up their second team victory of the season, battling windy conditions to get the win.
With the non-conference decision, the Wolves moved to 2-6 on the season.
After sweeping through the doubles portion of the match – which included the first win of the year from Adele Mounga and Amanda Lee at No. 3 doubles – the Wolves went on to win the first five singles matches to clinch the overall victory.
NSU’s Jamie Golden and Jessica DesLauriers eased through their singles matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles to seal the victory, while Megan Gilbraith and Bridget Henderson followed with victories of their own. That set the table for senior Amanda Lee, who staged a nice comeback in the second set to earn a 6-0, 7-6 win. Lee was down 5-1 in the second before rallying for the victory.
Junior Adele Mounga nearly made it a clean sweep for the Wolves at No. 6 singles. Mounga dropped the first set, but came back to win the second 6-4 and force a tiebreaker set, but BLC’s Laura Gehlar thwarted the shutout bit with a 10-4 win in that tiebreaker set.
“Given the difficult conditions, I’m happy with the play we had,” said NSU head coach Jessie Daw. “It would have been easy to become frustrated, but no one really did that. We competed well and scrapped through the wind.”
Doubles
#1: Jamie Golden/Jessica DesLauriers (NSU) def. Elizabeth Kopack/Meghan Dahlke, 8-3
#2: Bridget Henderson/Megan Gilbraith (NSU) def. Brook Osmundson/Madara Matveja, 8-3
#3: Adele Mounga/Amanda Lee (NSU) def. Allison Stang/Alyssa Rau, 8-2
Singles
#1: Golden (NSU) def. Kopack, 6-0, 6-1
#2: DesLauriers (NSU) def. Kahlke, 6-1, 6-0
#3: Gilbraith (NSU) def. R. Kopack, 6-1, 6-4
#4: Henderson (NSU) def. Matveja, 6-2, 6-1
#5: Lee (NSU def. Emily Anderson, 6-0, 7-6 (9-7)
#6: Laura Gehlar (BLC) def. Mounga 6-2, 4-6, 10-4