LAKEVILLE, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State tennis team opened the 2021 season on Saturday picking up a pair of 4-3 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference victories over Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State at Lifetime Fitness.
 
SMSU's win over SCSU was its first since the 1992 season, snapping a 27-match losing streak, while the win over UMD was its first over the Bulldogs since the 2010 season.
 
In the win over UMD, the Mustangs used four victories in singles play—including three, three-set wins—to secure the victory. UMD earned the doubles point, winning two of three matches, with SMSU's No. 2 team of Courtenay Leonard and Maja Louisa Harck winning its match, 6-4.
 
Maegan Flight cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles, Leonard won 6-0, 0-6, 6-4 at No. 3, Gwendolen Sior won a thrilling 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 match at No. 4, while Harck picked up a victory at No. 5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
 
The win over SCSU was even more dramatic as once again SMSU used third set magic to earn the win. Down 1-0 following doubles play, Flight picked up a 6-1, 6-1 win at No. 1, with Leonard sailing at No. 3 with a 6-2, 6-0 win. Sior won at No. 5 by a score of 6-2, 7-5, but the match came down to Harck at No. 4 singles. She won the first set 6-2, lost 2-6 in the second and trailed 5-2 in set three. Harck wouldn't quit and battled back to win 7-5 and give the Mustangs the thrilling win.
 
Southwest Minnesota State continues NSIC play next Sunday, Feb. 21, taking on Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston in Grand Forks, N.D.