Box Score GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota women's tennis team made it three straight victories on Sunday, rolling to a 7-0 win over Bellarmine from Choice Health and Fitness from Grand Forks, N.D.
The Fighting Hawks (5-7) have now won four of their last six matches and improve to a perfect 2-0 at home this season after taking down Marquette on Friday afternoon.
"First of all, it was great to finally be able to play at home, in Grand Forks, at Choice," said UND head coach Tom Boysen. "We have such a terrific facility and awesome home crowd, and it was nice to be here this weekend. We played well to beat Marquette on Friday. In that match, I was really happy with how we competed and solved problems when Marquette pushed us and closed the gap on some courts. We responded confidently and maturely."
UND jumped out to a 1-0 lead in doubles action, grabbing a pair of wins on the No. 1 and 2 courts. The top duo of
Sapir Sela and
Andrea Jansson started it off with a 6-1 triumph at the top spot before the middle pairing of
Jule Schulte and
Nore Heinitz polished off the strong start for the hosts by a 6-4 score.
Sela was able to extend the advantage to 2-0 when her opponent was forced to retire due to injury. The Boca Raton, Fla., native had captured the first set, 6-3, and was leading 1-0 in the second stanza when the retirement occurred.
NoDak pushed the match to its brink at the No. 3 court with a 6-3, 6-0 victory from Schulte before
Lucia Rizza provided the clinching point from the fifth position by a 6-2, 6-3 score to secure the match victory.
Heinitz extended the lead to 5-0 with a 6-0, 6-3 triumph while Jansson and Aubin each battled back from a 7-5 loss in the first set to post identical 6-1 and 10-7 victories over the final two frames on the No. 2 and 6 courts, respectively, to complete the 7-0 sweep.
"Today, I loved how we pulled away and stretched our leads in the majority of matches," said Boysen. "Great doubles point again, and we forged some early leads in many of the singles matches. It takes awareness and focus to maintain and stretch leads, and we did a great job in that respect today. Bellarmine is a good team who beat Louisville a few weekends ago, so we should be able to take some confidence from this victory as we head into our first Summit League match next Sunday."
North Dakota remains home to begin Summit League action against Kansas City on Sunday, March 3 at 10:15 a.m. from Choice Health and Fitness.
