On April 11, the St. Olaf women’s tennis team traveled to St. Peter, Minn. to take on perennial conference powerhouse Gustavus Adolphus College. Unfortunately for the Oles, the Gusties proved to be too strong, recording an 8-1 victory. It was only the fourth loss this season for the Oles.
St. Olaf, who was looking to hand Gustavus its first conference loss of the season, needed to begin strongly in doubles to give itself a chance of winning the contest. It wasn’t to be, though, as the Gusties recorded 8-4 wins over the pairs of Kristi Kroker ’15 and Margaret Zimmerman ’18, Lisa Hall ’16 and Maya MacGibbon ’16, and Bailey Kent ’16 and Erin McDonald ’18 at the one, two and three doubles positions respectively.
Surrendering a 0-3 lead proved to be too much for the Oles to overcome, as the Gusties claimed five of the six singles matches to take victory. MacGibbon was the only victorious Ole at number three singles, as she claimed a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 7-5 win. Kroker, at number two singles, lost a lengthy battle, succumbing 6-4, 4-6, 13-11 in an epic matchup. Zimmerman also pushed her opponent at the number four singles slot, narrowly losing the first set 6-7 2-7 before falling 3-6 in the second set.
The loss leaves the Oles at 8-4 overall, with a 4-2 conference record. St. Olaf will be looking to seal a playoff berth in the coming days, with several MIAC meets on the schedule this week. The Oles will play their final home game of the season against University of St. Thomas on April 22 at 4 p.m.
