Notables
-CSS receives automatic qualifier into next week's NCAA Division III Tournament
-CSS trailed 4-1 before coming back to win the match
-The last four singles matches to finish all came down to a third set super-breaker
-Seventh straight meeting of CSS and UNW in the UMAC tournament championship

DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) - The St. Scholastica women's tennis team rallied to capture the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Tournament championship 5-4 over the University of Northwestern (Minn.) Friday night at the Longview Tennis Club.

Doubles
The No. 2 doubles team was the only doubles team to bring home a win for CSS. Katelyn Rice (Eveleth, Minn./Eveleth-Gilbert HS) and Elizabeth Fink (Rochester, Minn./Rochester Century HS) defeated their UNW opponents 8-6, with the other two doubles matches of the day falling in favor of the Eagles.

Singles
The Eagles then quickly won at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots to take a commanding 4-1 lead in the dual. Northwestern needed only one more match win to capture the title. Of the four matches remaining, the Saints dropped the first set in three of them and coming back seemed even more daunting.

However, things started to change as Alexia Brascugli (Eveleth, Minn./Eveleth-Gilbert HS) at No. 6 and Fink at No. 5 won their second sets handily to force a third-set super-breaker. Brascugli carried that momentum and won the match by scores of 6-7, 6-1, (10-5). Fink would trail in the super-breaker early, but rallied off a string of points to take her match 4-6, 6-3, (10-5).

The last two matches remaining were Rice at No. 4 and Sarah Coryell (Golden Valley, Minn./Armstrong HS) at No. 3. Rice, who also dropped her first set, won the second set 6-2. She then won the first nine points of the super-breaker to win her match 3-6, 6-2, (10-3).

Coryell, who won her first set, dropped the second set in a tiebreaker and trailed 6-2 in the super-breaker. With daylight coming at a premium, Coryell would get the super-breaker level at 8-8 and then won the final two points to take the match and clinch the title for the Saints 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), (10-8)

Up Next
The Saints (14-6) will make their fourth consecutive NCAA Division III Tournament next week and their seventh overall. The official NCAA Tournament field will be announced by 11 a.m. Monday morning on NCAA.com. First round begins on Thursday or Friday next week.