Box Score
DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Scholastica men's tennis team was in a battle with Northwestern College on Saturday at the Arrowhead Tennis Center, but came through in the end winning 6-3 to capture its 15th consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) regular season championship.
Northwestern had all the momentum after taking two of the three doubles matches. The doubles losses were the first by the Saints in conference play this season. The No. 3 team of
Dylan Kelly (Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis South HS) and
Kevin Hilpert (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) won 8-3. With the victory, Hilpert breaks the program record for doubles wins in a season with his 18th.
Hilpert and Kelly then cruised in their singles matches to give the Saints a 3-2 lead in the match. Hilpert won at No. 6 and Kelly at No. 5 by matching 6-0, 6-1 scores.
The dual was then decided by No. 2, 3, and 4 singles. All three matches would go to a third set super-breaker.
Brendan Anderson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) was in a marathon match at No. 4, dropping the first set 6-2, but then responding by taking the second set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (8-6). In the super-breaker, Anderson fought off a match point and won the last three points to take it by a score of 11-9.
At No. 3,
Brian Lindberg (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown HS) took the first set 6-2, but dropped the second set 6-2. However, Lindberg responded by controlling the super-breaker and winning 10-2. Finally at No. 2,
Tucker Combs (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) won the first set 6-3, but fell in the second set 6-4. Combs then fell behind 7-3 in the super-breaker before rallying to win 13-11.
The Saints improve to 13-10 overall and finish 10-0 in the conference. Not only do the Saints win the title outright, but they extend their conference dual match win streak to 95 matches. The Eagles fall to 7-12 overall and 7-2 in the league.
The Saints will take part in the UMAC Championships next Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis at the Baseline Tennis Center. Doubles play will take place Friday with singles taking place on Saturday. Action begins Friday at 4 p.m. and continues Saturday at 9 a.m.
