Tennis | 3/6/2018 11:10:00 PM

MSUM-CBU Box
MSUM-Findlay Box
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's tennis team split a pair of matches on Tuesday in Orlando, Fla. MSUM rallied for a 5-4 win over Christian Brothers before losing to Findlay, 7-2 in its evening match.

MSUM is now 8-2 on the year.

The Dragons trailed 4-1 at one point to Christian Brothers, with the lone win coming at No. 3 doubles, where senior Ricquel Ramsbottom and sophomore Emma Zamora topped Melody Mays and Bethany Weatherby, 8-3. CBU won at No. 2 and No.3 singles to push the lead to 4-1.

MSUM won the final four matches that were still playing. Sophomore Alyssa Wolf beat Meg Mattis, 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 at No. 4 singles, while Ramsbottom beat Mays 6-3, 4-6, 10-3 at No. 5. Konecne won 7-5, 6-2 at No. 6 singles over Weathersby.

The final match on the court was No. 1 singles. Freshman Julia Geske won a hard-fought 7-5, 7-5 match over Tara McElroy to clinch the win for MSUM.

"There are so many highlights from this match," MSUM head coach Oliver Summers said. "I mean after being down 1-4 and needing to win all the remaining matches, our players really showed how clutch they are. We handled the heat and wind well too."

In the evening match, MSUM fell 7-2 to Findlay.  The Dragons prevailed at No. 1 doubles as Geske and sophomore Olivia Keelin topped Eliza Kirov and Samantha Sweet, 8-5.

Konecne won by retirement at No. 6 singles. She was leading 6-1, 3-0 when her opponent retired. MSUM lost in three sets at No. 1 and No. 4 singles.

"Findlay was a tough, well-organized team that proved too much for us tonight," Summers said. "We had some great individual performances that I was really proud of."

MSUM will face Seton Hill at 11:30 a.m. Central time on Wednesday.