Beavers sweep road weekend to even record

The Bemidji State University tennis team earned a 6-1 victory versus Southwest Minnesota State University and swept Minnesota State University, Mankato, 7-0, in Owatonna, Minn. to improve to 6-6 on the year and 4-4 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play, Feb. 22-23.

The Beavers opened the weekend with a 6-1 victory over Southwest Minnesota State.

BSU opened the match strong earning wins in all three doubles matches to secure a 1-0 lead heading in to singles play. The pair of Brooke Mimmack and Laney Rutkowski shut the Mustangs out, 6-0, in the No. 2 doubles match, while BSU’s top doubles team of Ariadna Lopez and Hammah Alme needed a tie-breaker to dispose of their SMSU opponents, 7-6 (1-0).

As singles play got underway, Mimmack kept the momentum in BSU’s favor earning a straight-sets victory over her opponent on the No. 3 singles court. Alme added a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 before SMSU’s Cora Delich handed BSU is first and only loss of the day at No. 1 singles. She defeated Lopez 6-2, 6-1 to pull the Mustangs to 3-1 in the match. But BSU freshman Maggie Richardson tipped the match in Bemidji State’s favor with a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles. BSU would also get wins from Rutkowski (6-0, 6-0) and Hanna Peterson (6-2, 7-5) in the No. 5 and 4 matches, respectively.

Sunday, the Beavers dominated Minnesota State from start to finish.

Bemidji State got a 6-0 win from Rutkowski and Mimmack at No. 2 doubles (6-0) and Peterson and Sam Edlund in the third doubles match (6-3). Minnesota State would win the No. 1 doubles match, 6-4, but it was too little too late as the Beavers clinched a 1-0 lead for BSU winning two of the three in doubles play.

Rutkowski (6-0, 6-0) and Richardson (6-0, 6-1) got BSU out of the gates in singles play with straight-sets wins at No. 5 and No. 6 singles, respectively. Alme followed with a 6-1, 6-2 win on the No. 2 court to secure the team win for BSU by virtue of the fourth point. The Beavers would go on to get wins from Mimmack (6-2, 6-3) at No. 3, Lopez (6-2, 6-4) in the top singles match and a 6-2, 6-2 victory from Peterson at No. 4 to complete the 7-0 sweep.

“We had a really great team match today,” said Head Coach Kyle Fodness. “Minnesota State, Mankato is a good team and very athletic. The team started a lot faster today than we did against Southwest Minnesota State. It was great to see the team refocus and reset and come out with such a strong performance throughout the entire singles lineup.” He added, “This puts us in a great position going into next weekend and we want to make sure we keep the same energy against upper Iowa and Winona State.”

The Beavers (6-6; 4-4 NSIC) will return to action Feb. 28-29 when they travel to Grand Forks, N.D. to meet Upper Iowa University and Winona State University. BSU will clash with the Peacocks at 3:30 p.m. Friday and will wrap the weekend of NSIC competition up with an 11:30 a.m. first serve versus Winona State University. Both matches will be played and Choice Health and Fitness.