Complete results

MINNEAPOLIS – It came down to the final match on Saturday, but the St. Scholastica men's tennis team fell one point short at the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Men's Tennis Tournament at the Baseline Tennis Center.

Northwestern College won its first-ever men's tennis conference tournament championship by winning five of the of the nine flights. The Eagles accumulated 23 points, while the Saints finished with 22 points. The runner-up finish for CSS ends a four-year streak for the Saints.

Action began Friday with doubles play and the Saints were able to win titles in two of the three flights. The No. 1 team of Jacob Engelstad (Thief River Falls, Minn./Lincoln HS) and Brendan Anderson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS) opened by defeating North Central University 8-1 in the semifinals. They then defeated the same duo from Northwestern College that upended them last weekend, by a score of 8-6 to take the No. 1 doubles flight championship.

For Engelstad it is his third doubles title, but his first at the No. 1 flight. Anderson wins his second consecutive doubles title at the No. 1 flight and his third overall. Anderson finishes his CSS career as the all-time wins leader in doubles with 53 victories.

The other doubles team to win was the tandem of Dylan Kelly (Minneapolis, Minn./Minneapolis South HS) and Kevin Hilpert (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS), which won the No. 3 flight. The team defeated Martin Luther 8-1 in the semifinals and then defeated Northwestern 8-3 to capture the crown. For Hilpert, he owns the single-season program record for doubles wins with 20.

On Saturday, just like in doubles, every singles championship was decided between Northwestern and St. Scholastica.

At the No. 1 flight, Engelstad won his semifinal match 6-1, 6-0 against North Central and then easily took care of David Knight of Northwestern 6-2, 6-1 to win his first No. 1 singles flight title, but his third overall.

Anderson was the only other UMAC champion in singles, taking the No. 4 flight. Anderson shut out Martin Luther 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals and then downed Josh Nelson of Northwestern 7-6, 6-4 in the championship. For Anderson, it was his second career UMAC singles title.

CSS fell in the championship match of the No. 2, 5, and 6 flights to even up the tournament with Northwestern and CSS each winning four flights apiece. The Saints had not lost a UMAC match this season at No. 5 or 6 singles until today.

It came down to No. 3 singles and the Eagles prevailed in straight set tiebreakers 7-6 (7-4), 7-6, (7-2).

The Saints season will end as will the college careers of seniors Brendan Anderson (Plymouth, Minn./Wayzata HS), Tucker Combs (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS), and Tom Schneuer (Duluth, Minn./Duluth Central HS). For future CSS men's tennis news be sure to check out csssaints.com.