Saints Men’s Tennis Avenges Last Year’s UMAC Tournament; Crowned Champs

May 5, 201

Northland Sports Online

The St. Scholastica men’s tennis team fell by one point to Northwestern College in the flighted Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Men’s Tennis Tournament a season ago, but would defeat the Eagles 5-4 at the Baseline Tennis Center Saturday morning in a dual to reclaim the title.

The Eagles had the lead after doubles play, winning at both the No. 1 and 2 spots. The lone CSS doubles team to win was the No. 3 team of Tyler Bates (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech) and Cullen Combs (White Bear Lake, Minn./White Bear Lake HS) by an 8-4 score.

In singles, Jacob Engelstad (Thief River Falls, Minn. /Lincoln HS) won at the No. 1 spot in a third set super-breaker 6-3, 5-7, (10-7). Engelstad finishes his CSS career with a 61-36 singles record and 54-38 doubles mark, both of which are program records.

CSS dropped both matches at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, including senior Brian Lindberg (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown HS) falling in a close super-breaker at No. 3.

St. Scholastica’s depth proved to be too much for the Eagles to overcome. Dylan Kelly (Minneapolis, Minn. /Minneapolis South HS) won in straight sets at the No. 4 spot 6-3, 6-3. At the No. 5 spot, senior Kevin Hilpert (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) won his final match by scores of 6-4, 6-2. Hilpert finishes with 52 career singles wins and 39 doubles victories. The 52 singles wins are the third-most in program history. The final winner for the Saints was Nick Lambrecht (Stacy, Minn. /North Branch HS (Minn.-Duluth)) at No. 6 by scores of 6-3, 6-3.

The Saints (18-7) win their 12th UMAC Tournament championship and their fifth in the last six seasons. CSS finished with a program record 18 dual match victories and 98 singles wins. CSS will say goodbye to five seniors: Engelstad, Hilpert, Lindberg, Nick Lind (Cloquet, Minn. /Cloquet HS) and Tom Schneuer (Duluth, Minn. /Duluth Central HS).

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