Tennis | 4/15/2015 3:16:00 PM

Central Region Rankings
NSIC Tournament Bracket
MOORHEAD, Minn. -- The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's tennis team wraps up the regular season this week with a pair of nonconference matches but learned some good news on Wednesday: the Dragons are regionally ranked for the first time in the Oliver Summers coaching era.

The Dragons will host Concordia College at 5 p.m. on Friday and wrap up the weekend against Gustavus Adolphus at 3:30 p.m.  Both matches will be at Courts Plus in Fargo, N.D.

In the Central Region rankings released on Wednesday, MSUM is ranked ninth. The Dragons are one of three Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference teams to be in the top nine of the rankings, joining seventh-ranked Augustana and eighth-ranked Upper Iowa.

The postseason tournament winner from each conference receives and automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament on May 2-5 and will be joined by the next four highest ranked teams in the final rankings.

MSUM (8-8, 8-3 NSIC) also learned its conference tournament opponent on Wednesday. The Dragons, the No. 3 seed, will face No. 6 seed St. Cloud State at 11:30 a.m. on April 25 at Lifetime Fitness in Minnetonka, Minn. If the Dragons win, they will face the winner of the Upper Iowa/Mary match at 8 a.m. on Sunday, April 26.  The championship match, featuring the semifinal winners, will be at noon on April 26.

The Dragons split a pair of NSIC matches last week. They beat Winona State, 8-1 on Saturday before suffering a tough 6-3 loss to Upper Iowa on Sunday. Despite the split, MSUM wrapped up solo possession of third place in the NSIC.

Sophomore Jessamy Jones leads MSUM with an 11-5 mark in singles, while senior Andrea Rognlien is 10-6 and junior Ashley Wood is 9-7. MSUM, as a team, is 51-45 in singles play this season.

In doubles, Jones and Wood have teamed up for an 8-7 mark. Junior Cassie Smith is 7-7 in doubles for the Dragons.

Oliver Summers is in his third season as MSUM's head coach.

About Concordia: The Cobbers are 2-10 overall and 0-9 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Concordia lost three matches last weekend, falling to St. Catherine (9-0), Hamline (7-2) and Macalester (6-3). Taylor Peterson leads Concordia with a 3-6 singles mark while Morgan Sawatzke is 3-7.  Peterson leads with a 2-8 doubles mark. Steve Futchko is in his second season as Concordia's head coach.

About Gustavus: Gustavus is 10-12 overall and 6-0 in the MIAC. The Gusties will face Carleton and Concordia prior to facing MSUM.  Michaela Schulz is 16-9 in singles to lead Gustavus while Laurel Krebsbach is 14-9.  Schulz is 18-6 in doubles while Katie Aney is 12-4. Jon Carlson is in his 25th season as the Gustavus head coach.