St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s tennis team defeated Bethel University by a final score of 5-0 on Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the 2013 Women’s Tennis Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs at the Swanson Tennis Center. With the win, Gustavus improves to 13-7 (8-2 MIAC) and advances to the semifinals while Bethel concludes its season 9-9 (5-5 MIAC).
The Gusties opened the contest by sweeping the Royals in the doubles competition. Heather Annis (Sr., Mapleton, Minn.) and Mallory Shellum (Sr., St. James, Minn.) started strong out of the gate as the first pair to finish. The senior tandem did not concede a point in an 8-0 win at the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
The No. 1 doubles pair of Laurel Krebsbach (So., North Oaks, Minn.) and Annie Mahoney (So., Duluth, Minn.) quickly followed, recording an 8-1 win to extend the Gustavus lead to 2-0 before Sidney Dirks (Fy., St. Peter, Minn.) and Maddie Lindstrom (Fy., Lakeville, Minn.) finished the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win at the No. 3 position.
In singles, Laurel Krebsbach came out and took care of business early, defeating Abby Edin in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 in the No. 1 slot. After taking the first set 6-2 at the No. 2 spot, Heather Annis opened up a 3-1 lead in the second set and played even from there to take a 6-4 win in the frame and secure the 5-0 victory.
The Gusties will be back in action again tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at the Swanson Tennis Center when they take on the No. 2 seeded Carleton Knights in the semifinals of the MIAC Playoffs.