Tennis | 4/24/2021 12:39:00 PM
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Minnesota State University Moorhead women's tennis team saw its season end in heartbreaking fashion with a 4-3 loss to Winona State in the semifinals of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships on Saturday in Sioux Falls, S.D.
MSUM finished the season at 9-4. Winona State improved to 13-3.
"I'm very proud of the team and the way we battled," MSUM head coach Jason Thiner said. "We knew it would be a tough one to get. Winona played well."
Winona State won the doubles point, winning at No. 1 and No. 2 slots to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Dragons needed four singles wins to advance but the two teams split the six matches.
Senior Julia Geske got the Dragons their first point with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Beth Murman at No. 1 singles. Geske, competing in her final match as a Dragon after a stellar four-year career (2020 was shortened by Covid-19), finished 9-4 this season and had a career singles record of 40-17. She also finished 42-15 in doubles.
Junior Emma Andersen won in straight sets as well, beating Sara Anderson, 6-3, 6-3. Junior Mikaela Griechen outlasted Audrey Delich in a tough first set 7-5, and went on to take the second set 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
The No. 5 singles match saw an extremely hard-fought first set that went down to a tiebreaker, where Winona State's Brooke Jorgenson prevailed 8-6 over MSUM junior . Jorgenson won the second set 6-2.
Seniors Lorissa Yuen and Rachel Nguyen were also competing in their final match as Dragons. Both players, who were three-year members of the Dragon program, fell in singles competition on Saturday. Yuen finished 27-7 in singles as a Dragon while Nguyen was 26-13.
Winona State 4, MSUM 3
Doubles
No. 1 — Beth Murman/Audrey Delich (Winona) def. Julia Geske/Mikaela Griechen, 6-1
No. 2 — Rachel Kelly/Rina Niehoff (Winona) def. Lorissa Yuen/Miranda Griechen, 6-2
No. 3 — Sara Anderson/Faith Young (Winona) vs. Emma Andersen/Madison Bell, 4-3, unfinished
Singles
No. 1 — Geske (MSUM) def. Murman, 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 — Kelly (Winona) def. Yuen, 7-5, 6-2
No. 3 — Niehoff (Winona) def. Rachel Nguyen, 6-3, 6-1
No. 4 — Mikaela Griechen (MSUM) def. Delich, 7-5, 6-3
No. 5 — Brooke Jorgensen (Winona) def. Miranda Griechen, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2
No. 6 — Emma Andersen (MSUM) def. Sara Anderson, 6-3, 6-3
