DULUTH, Minn (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica men's tennis team came away unscathed in dual match play up north this weekend at the Quad City Indoor in Virginia, Minn. The CSS men played two matches, the first coming on Friday afternoon where they dispatched former UMAC (Upper Midwest Athletic Conference) opponent Crown College, 9-0.

The Saints then reversed yet another result from last year in their favor on Saturday, this time coming up with a critical MIAC (Minnesota Intercollegiate Tennis Conference) victory over Bethel University. The Saints lost to the Royals in 2022, 0-9, but came away from Virginia in this year's 2023 edition with a closely contested, impressive 8-1 team triumph. Saint Scholastica now has 3 remaining MIAC opponents on tap to complete the regular season.

CSS vs. Crown
Doubles
The Saints claimed all 3 doubles matches in a timely fashion against the Polars and set the tone for the singles leg to follow. At the No.1 doubles position, Riley Versich (Kelly Lake, Minn./Hibbing HS (Itasca CC)) and Andy Shaffer (Buffalo, Minn.) won 8-3. On court No. 2 the duo of Alex Daigneault (Agua Dulce, Calif./Hart HS) and Jace Westerbur (Virginia, Minn./Virginia HS) cleaned things up 8-0 as well as the all-freshman tandem of Harper Dircks (Hopkins, Minn.) and Brodie Raygor on court No. 3 in the same fashion, 8-0.

Singles
St. Scholastica would roll across all singles courts as Versich collected the 6-1, 6-3 victory at the No. 1 position. On court No. 2 Daigneault claimed the 6-2, 6-2 victory over his Polar opponent. 

Shaffer rolled at the No. 3 position to a 6-0, 6-1 victory and at No. 4 freshman Dircks dispatched his opponent, 6- 0, 6-2. 

Virginia native Westurbur won at the No. 5 slot 6-1, 6-2 and freshman Raygor completed things with a tidey 6-1, 6-1 win.  

CSS vs Bethel 
Doubles
The atmosphere Saturday was fantastic in Virginia as many Saints fans and faithful made the hour-long trip to support the 2023 playoff-hopeful squad. St. Scholastica got just what they wanted as they fought off the Royals across all 3 of the doubles lines to shock Bethel 3-0 and needing just 2 singles points to claim victory. 

At the No. 1 position the Aussies Jonas Abeleda (Sydney, Australia/St Aloysius' College) and Eamon Gerrard-Stace (Brisbane, Au.) got things done, taking the match 8-5 over their opponents Jackson Meyer and Luke Wyly. At the No. 2 line the tandem of Julius Tabrizi (Frankfurt, Germany/Bischof-Neumann) and Jack Onkka (Thief River Falls, Minn.) claimed an 8-5 victory and the duo of Reece Patten (Duluth, Minn./Duluth East HS) and Alex Daigneault (Agua Dulce, Calif./Hart HS) cleaned up a crucial third point on the No. 3 court, 8-6. 

Singles
CSS sent out their regular 1-3 singles lineup but positions 5 and 6 were forced to move up one slot, as the Saints were without their usual No. 4 singles. 

Shaffer was slotted into the No. 6 position for Saint Scholastica and earned a straight-set victory over Ryan Ackerman, 7-5, 6-2. 

Abeleda saw victory at the No. 1 position going off the court with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Meyer while shortly after his doubles partner Gerard-Stace defeated Wyly in superbreaker fashion, 4-6, 6-0, 10-4. 

Tabrizi and Versich each claimed their eighth singles victories at the No. 3 and No. 4 courts.

Tabrizi won by a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set margin against Magistad. Versich was asked to move up in the lineup in both dual matches, grabbing the 6-4, 6-2 victory in this one over Bethel's Robert Seaton to cap off his weekend undefeated. Patten fell just short against a tough opponent, also being asked to move up in the lineup for this contest, 6-7(5-7),1-6. 

Up Next
The Saint's will take Monday off and get back to work Tuesday with another MIAC contest in the cross sights next Sunday when the men will travel the long road west to Fargo, North Dakota, where they will do battle with the Concordia Cobbers out of Moorhead. The Saints now have 3 straight victories with the weekend sweep over Crown and Bethel, and are 9-7 overall. The win over Bethel puts CSS in control of their own playoff destiny now, currently sitting at 3-3 in the MIAC. First serves at Courts Plus in Fargo are slated for 12:30 p.m.