GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of Minnesota Crookston tennis team lost a pair of matches at Choice Health & Fitness in Grand Forks, N.D. Sat., Feb. 25. The Golden Eagles opened the day by dropping their match 9-0 to Bemidji State University. Later in the day, UMC would fall 9-0 to University of Sioux Falls.
Against Bemidji State, the No. 1 doubles duo of
Whitney Erickson (Jr., Spring Valley, MInn.) and
Reanne Erickson (So., Fargo, N.D.) fell 8-0 to Morgan Opp and Zoe Lindgren. At No. 2 doubles,
Hanna Ruckheim (Fr., Parkers Prairie, Minn.) and
Adrianna Tiede (Fr., LeCenter, Minn.) fell 9-0 to Ariadna Lopez and Hannah Alme. At No. 3 doubles,
Ellen Dauphinais (Sr., Parkers Prairie, Minn.) and
Tien Nguyen (Sr., Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) were upended 8-0 by Breann Walsh and Sabrina Okeson.
In singles, the
Whitney Erickson fell 6-0, 6-0 to Opp. At No. 2 singles, Alme defeated
Reanne Erickson. At the No. 3 slot, Tiede competed and won a couple of games but fell 6-0, 6-2 to Walsh. At the No. 4 slot, BSU's Brooke Mimmack picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win over Ruckheim. At No. 5 singles, Dauphinais fell 6-0, 6-1 to Claudia Bellew. At No. 6 singles, Hope Johnson upended Nguyen, 6-0, 6-0.
"As in past matches, we kept working hard and had some impressive efforts in singles," said Head Coach
Lee Meier. "The girls continue to improve their skills match by match."
In the second match of the day, UMC fell 9-0 to Sioux Falls.
Whitney Erickson and
Reanne Erickson dropped their doubles match in a hard-fought match 8-5 to Kara Bunkers and Kylie Simons. At the No. 2 slot, Ruckheim and Tiede fell 8-0 to Tianna Duda and Abby Seigenthaler. At the No. 3 doubles spot, Nguyen and
Alyssa Petersen (Fr., Robbinsdale, Minn.) were able to take two games but fell 8-02 to Cortney McCans and Marie Schmitz.
In singles,
Whitney Erickson had perhaps her best match of the season but ultimately fell 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) to Simons. At the No. 2 slot,
Reanne Erickson fell 6-0, 6-1 to Duda. At No. 3 singles, Ruckheim competed but fell 6-1, 6-1 to Bunkers. At No. 5 singles, Tiede fell 6-0, 6-0 to Kelsie Sanders. At No. 4 singles, Petersen was able to take a couple of games but fell 6-1, 6-1 to Siegenthaler. At the No. 6 slot, Nguyen fell 6-0, 6-0 to McCans.
"We had a great match a No. 1 doubles, Meier said. "We weren't quite able to close out the match. I saw a lot of improvement overall in our hustle and just being able to keep points alive. Whitney (Erickson) also had a great match at No. 1 singles, but Kylie was able to take the second set tie break. I was really proud of our team and how we competed today."
Minnesota Crookston will return to action Sun., Feb. 26 at 8 a.m. against Augustana University at Choice Health & Fitness.
