Tennis wins second straight 5-4 over Saint Ben's

Saturday, March 20

Sartell, MN

5:30 p.m.

St. Cloud State

College of Saint Benedict

3/20/2021 10:50:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

SARTELL, MINN. - The Jerry Anderson Legacy match trophy is back where it belongs.

After a brief stay in St. Joseph, Minnesota, the traveling trophy will return to its home in Halenbeck Hall thanks to the St. Cloud State University tennis team's win over the College of Saint Benedict Saturday evening. The Huskies were victorious in a match that came down to the wire, as they upended the Blazers 5-4 to improve to 2-1 in the month of March.

With Saint Ben's playing host, St. Cloud State again found itself playing by Division III rules, where each individual match win at doubles play counts towards the overall team score. Because of this, the Huskies took an early 2-1 lead after the initial portion of the dual, as their No. 1 and 2 doubles teams were victorious Saturday evening. The No. 2 team of Jill Kedrowski (St. Cloud, Minn. / Tech) and Kylee Frisbee (Foley, Minn. / Foley) earned St. Cloud State's first point of the night, as they defeated Kayla McIver and Anne Bowe 8-5 in doubles play. Shanna Kinny (Litchfield, Minn. / Litchfield) and Hina Goldsmith (Honolulu, Hawaii / Dixie State) won by an identical score as the Huskies No. 1 doubles team, downing Lily Fredericks and Peyton Kobel 8-5.

No. 3 team of Sam Fitzpatrick (Rogers, Minn. / Rogers) and Emma Brunkow (Lake City, Minn. / Lake City) nearly gave St. Cloud State a sweep in doubles play. Unfortunately, the duo suffered an early break at the hands of Jane Bodensteiner and Maria Bedford and fell by a final score of 8-5.

With two points on the scoreboard, the Huskies needed just three more to clinch their second consecutive dual match victory. They got the first from Kedrowski, who won in straight sets as the No. 4 singles player by scores of 6-2, 6-2. Frisbee then delivered a key comeback victory as St. Cloud State's No. 5 singles player, forcing a third set tiebreaker and winning the match by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 10-8.

Then came the waiting. A late break ended up costing Fitzpatrick, as she fell to Fredericks 7-5, 6-1 as the Huskies No. 2 singles player. At the No. 3 spot, Kinny looked to do exactly was Frisbee did. After dropping the first set 7-6, Kinny rebounded with a 6-1 second set victory to force the definitive third set. The sophomore unfortunately came up short, falling to Kopel 6-7, 6-1, 7-10.

With four of six matches completed, it ultimately came down to Goldsmith and Brunkow to clinch victory for the Huskies. Goldsmith ended up delivering the needed point, as she defeated McIver as the team's No. 1 singles player in dominant fashion, taking the first set 7-5 before winning with a 6-2 second set win. Brunkow went the distance as the team's No. 6 singles player, winning the first set of her match 6-2 before falling in three 6-2, 6-7, 7-10.

With the win, St. Cloud State's overall record improves to 3-6 with a 1-5 mark in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) play. The Huskies will return to conference action on Saturday, March 27 when they face the University of Minnesota-Crookston at 5 p.m. in Duluth, Minnesota.