Dillon Hogan/ Winonan
The Winona State University women’s tennis team closed the books on their conference season this weekend with the first of a four-game home stand. Playing the last two of their matches in the NSIC this season, the Warriors faced off against Upper Iowa and Southwest Minnesota State. The matches also served as senior day for the two Warrior seniors, Brittney Freund and Jessica Urban.
The weekends’ play started with the match against Upper Iowa. The Warriors played the Peacocks close throughout the match but lost multiple close games.
In the doubles matches, the number one and two spots were lost by the Warriors, both in tie-breaking scenarios by a score of 9-8. The doubles team of Andrea Kreuger and Freund helped the team’s cause by winning their match.
In the singles portion of the match, the Warriors fought back. Aimee Basinski and Kreuger both took home wins in their individual matches in straight sets. Krueger won by scores of 6-1 and 6-0, while Basinski won 6-3 and 6-2.
Freund, playing in the sixth spot, won her match which put the Warriors one win away from beating Upper Iowa.
This was as close to winning as the Warriors would get, as Upper Iowa pulled off their own comeback and took the next three matches to take the win against the Warriors.
Looking to bounce back from the loss, the Warriors had little time to regroup as they played Southwest Minnesota State the same day. The Warriors looked sharp against Southwest Minnesota and coasted to a 9-0 win.
The doubles team of Hannah Potter and Urban worked together to earn their 8-1 win in doubles play. The teams of Brianna Havelka and Basinski, along with Krueger and Freund, each took home wins in their doubles matches with an 8-2 score.
The Warriors kept up this level of intensity in the singles play to sweep Southwest Minnesota in six matches.
All four Warriors won their six matches in straight sets. Havelka and Krueger were each winners in their matches by scores of 6-0 and 6-0 at the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Other Warriors with wins included Potter with scores of 6-1 and 6-0, Urban with 6-2 and 6-0, Basinski with 6-1 and 6-0 and Freund with 6-1 and 6-1 scores.
Winona State finished the conference portion of the season with a 7-4 record, which placed the Warriors fifth in the NSIC. The Warriors are now 8-12 overall on the season with one more weekend of play remaining on the schedule.
Next weekend the Warriors will conclude their regular season with a pair of games at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Winona State will take on host school UW-La Crosse at 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 17 in their first game.
The season will conclude with matches against Luther College at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 18.
