Beaver Fever Friday – Rachel Franklin – Tennis

The Bemidji State University tennis team dropped its 2015 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opener Saturday at Winona State University, 7-2.

The Beavers found themselves in a 3-0 hole after dropping all three doubles matches.

After the Beavers’ Shaylin Prout lost her No. 1 singles match (6-3, 6-1), Deanie Hatch took the first set of her No. 2 singles match 6-2, dropped the second set 7-5 and lost the tie breaker 10-5.

Bemidji State got singles victories at the No. 4 and 5 positions, BSU’s newest team members. Freshman Claudia Bellew earned a straight-sets victory at No. 4 singles (6-3, 6-4), while fellow rookie Rachel Franklin won her No. 5 singles match (6-2, 6-1).

Rachel Franklin

The Beavers, now 0-3 overall and 0-2 in NSIC play, will be back on the road Feb. 20-21, traveling to Virginia, Minn. for a pair of NSIC match ups. BSU will open the weekend with a 5 p.m. contest against University of Minnesota Duluth Friday and will complete the weekend of competition with an 8:30 a.m. match Saturday against St. Cloud State University.