MINNETONKA, Minn. --- It went down to the final match Saturday evening but the Minnesota State women's tennis team came away with a 5-4 win over the University of Sioux Falls in the first round of the NSIC Tournament.

With the win, MSU improves to 8-9 on the season, while USF ends its season with a 9-8 record.

Minnesota State began the dual winning two of the three doubles matches. Freshman Killian Doran and junior Sarah McCann defeated Alison Kauss and Emily Erickson 8-3 in the No. 1 doubles match, while sophomore Melissa Mashburn and freshman Destiny Lee topped Stacey Beard and Joey Bosch 9-7 in the second doubles match.

MSU then won two of the first three completed singles matches to take a 4-2 lead. Mashburn bested Bosch 6-3, 6-4 in the No. 2 singles match, while McCann defeated Beard 6-3, 6-4 in the third singles match.

USF was able to rally and win the No. 1 and No. 6 singles matches to knot up the dual at 4-4. In the No. 4 singles match Lee was able to locked down the win over Erickson as she won in three sets by the scores of 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to secure the 5-4 win for the Mavericks.

The Mavericks will now take on the Augustana Vikings in the second round of the NSIC Tournament on Saturday at 8 a.m.   
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