Beavers lose two in Duluth coming up just short against Bulldogs and Saints
Bemidji State can’t get past Minnesota Duluth (6-1) and College of St. Scholastica (4-3)
It was certainly a busy opening week of the spring season for the Bemidji State University Women’s Tennis team. After hosting Minnesota Crookston on Thursday, the Beavers played both Minnesota Duluth and College of St. Scholastica on Saturday at the Duluth Indoor Sports Center. In the first match, Bemidji State fell short against Minnesota Duluth, 6-1. Then to close the day, College of St. Scholastica held on for the 4-3 victory.
In the opening match against the Bulldogs (2-0), Bemidji State (1-4) picked up a win at No. 3 doubles. Lexi Leitner/Laura Burger cruised to the 6-1 victory. Blanca Lopez-Oro/Nicoleta Anestiadi fought hard at the top-flight, but fell just short at 6-4. Emilia Sand/Isabela Nelson also won four games in their match at No. 2 before falling by the same 6-4 score. That gave Minnesota Duluth the 1-0 lead after doubles.
In singles play, Anestiadi picked up another win at No. 3. She started strong claiming the first set by a score of 6-1. Then after a close second set, Anestiadi was able to tally the win in straight sets with the 6-4 victory. Lopez-Oro ran into a tough match at No. 1 falling in straight sets, 0-6, 2-6. Sand fought hard in her match at No. 2. She opened strong with the first set win at 6-4. After dropping the second set, 2-6, the two then went to a decisive third set. Sand claimed five points, but it wasn’t enough as she fell in the third, 5-10. Burger won five games in her match at No. 4 before falling, 2-6, 3-6. Nelson at No. 5 and Lily Jones at No. 6 each lost by the same scores of 1-6, 1-6, to give the Bulldogs the 6-1 victory.
In the second match of the day the Beavers went against the College of St. Scholastica (1-0). It was a tough matchup in doubles for the Beavers with the Saints taking all three matches. BSU came closest at No. 2 with Sand/Nelson claiming four games before falling, 4-6. Lopez-Oro/Anestiadi posted two games before falling at the top flight, 2-6. Burger/Leitner dropped their match at No. 3, 1-6.
In singles, Lopez-Oro, Anestiadi and Burger all claimed wins. Lopez-Oro had a back-and-forth battle at the top flight. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (4), she dropped a close second set by a score of 4-6. In the decisive third set, she was able to pull away for the 10-7 win. Anestiadi made it a 3-0 week in singles play coming away with another straight set win at No. 3. After rolling to the 6-3 win in the first set, it was a tight second set. The two went into a tiebreaker with Anestiadi taking the 7-6 (4) victory. Burger picked up the third singles win at No. 4. Both sets were close, but she won in straight sets behind scores of 6-4, 6-3. The Saints then won the other three singles matches to claim the win. At No. 2, Sand was only able to play a few games before having to withdraw due to injury. Nelson at No. 5 claimed seven games, but couldn’t tally a set falling, 4-6, 3-6. Jones then claimed four games at No 6 before falling, 3-6, 1-6.
After the first three non-conference matches of the spring season are now in the rearview mirror, the Beavers will open Northern Sun Intercollegiate play this coming Saturday when they will face Minnesota Crookston once again, this time in Grand Forks, N.D., starting at 10:30 a.m.