<ire Spencer ‘16 won her seventh consecutive singles match and closed the MIAC regular season with an unblemished 10-0 record in conference contests as the Carleton College women’s tennis team defeated St. Olaf College by a 7-2 margin. The match was moved to the Owatonna Tennis Center due to wet weather.
Spencer improved to 16-3 overall on the season, the highest win total in the conference. She is one of only three players to post a perfect 10-0 record during MIAC singles matches this season and the only first-year to do so in the conference over the last five campaigns.
Carleton jumped out to a big lead tonight by sweeping the three doubles contests. Bridget Doyle ‘13 and Anne Lombardi ‘14 make up the No. 4-ranked duo in the region and played like it, posting an 8-1 result for their sixth consecutive victory. Mikayla Becich ‘16 and Grace Davis ‘16 picked up an 8-5 win, while Katherine Greenberg ‘14 and Molly Hemes ‘14 prevailed by an 8-4 score.
Doyle/Lombardi and Greenberg/Hemes make up two of the conference’s three tandems that went undefeated in MIAC doubles matches this season.
Spencer required a super tiebreaker to pickup her singles victory by scores of 6-3, 6-7, and 10-7. The Knights’ other three victories were of the straight-set variety. Doyle won at first singles 7-5 and 6-4; Hemes cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 triumph at the fourth slot; and Joyce Yu ‘16 notched the other victory with a 6-2 and 6-3 result at sixth singles.
Carleton is the second seed in the MIAC Playoffs. After enjoying a bye in the opening round on Friday, the Knights will face the highest remaining seed—either Gustavus Adolphus, St. Thomas, or St. Olaf—in the semifinals at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 4. The semifinal winners will play at 4 p.m. with the MIAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships at stake.