The Southwest Minnesota State University women’s tennis team took some heavy losses early in the 2014 regular season, though managed to snag a couple of wins in their February games.
The team went head-to-head against two separate teams in their first weekend matchup at the St. Thomas-Anderson Complex in Minneapolis Feb. 1. The Mustangs began their season with a loss against St. Thomas 9-0, but rallied back with a 5-4 win against Macalester College.
Crystal Overbaugh, Shelby Monahan and Kayla Uphus defeated their opponents in the singles competition. Uphus and her partner Katie Kienitz took the win for their doubles competition as well as Monahan and her partner Samantha Ritter.
The Mustangs went on to lose four straight games in a row against the Minnesota State Mavericks, the St. Cloud Huskies, the Bemidji State Beavers and the Augustana Vikings, respectively.
Ritter took the only win in SMSU’s 8-1 loss against the Mavericks in her singles competition Feb. 2 with scores of 6-2, 6-4.
The team faced off against both the Huskies and Beavers Feb. 8 with a 0-9 loss and 2-7 loss, respectively.
Monahan won by default in no. 4 singles while Uphus defeated her opponent in no. 5 singles, giving SMSU two points against the Beavers, although it wasn’t enough to break their lead.
The team went on to face the Vikings Feb. 21 with another 0-9 loss, but ended their losing streak with a win against Minnesota Crookston Feb. 22 with a final score of 6-3.
Kienitz, Monahan, Uphus and Ritter defeated their opponents in their singles competition against Crookston. Doubles teams Kienitz/Uphus and Monahan/Ritter were able to take the wins against Crookston, giving the team its first win since the season’s start.
The women’s tennis team will continue their season over spring break in Mesa, Ariz. March 11-15.
