The South Dakota State women's tennis team avenged its fall loss to North Dakota with a 6-1 win on Friday in Grand Forks, N.D.
The spring rematch was a far cry from the outcome in Brookings, S.D., this fall. That meet could have gone either way, but the Jacks came up on the short end, losing three third-set super tiebreakers en route to a 5-2 loss to North Dakota.
Friday's meet was all Jackrabbits.
As was the case in the fall, SDSU earned the doubles point, but this time with a three-match sweep. Jenny Blackburne and Brooke Henry teamed up at No. 1 doubles for an impressive 8-4 win. Megan McDougall and Bryna Nasenbeny won 8-6 at No. 2 and Natalia Medina and Bethany Goeden completed the sweep with a 9-8 win at No. 3.
In the fall, North Dakota won five of six singles matches, including three in super tiebreakers. On Friday, the Jacks made certain there was no repeat performance.
Blackburne set the tone at No. 2 singles with a 6-2, 6-3 win. Henry followed suit at No. 3 with a 6-3, 6-2 win. McDougall, Medina and Anna Botzet each posted straight-set wins at No. 4, 5 and 6, respectively, to secure the win for SDSU.
The effort was as impressive as the outcome, considering it was only last season that the Jacks were shut out by North Dakota.
"We lost to UND 5-2 in the fall, so to bounce back and come up with the win this spring shows how hard the girls have worked," head coach Michael Engdahl said. "Hopefully we can capture some positive momentum from tonight and carry it into the upcoming matches."
With the win, the Jacks improve to 2-2 on the early spring season.
Complete match results are available at the beginning of this article.
The next match comes very quickly, as SDSU remains in Grand Forks to face St. Cloud State on Saturday. Meet time is set for 11 a.m.
