ST. PETER, Minn. – Minnesota State women's tennis halted a two-match slide with a 7-0 victory Friday night over Minnesota Crookston at Swanson Tennis Center. The Mavericks swept doubles dropping just one game combined, then controlled play in singles with all six straight-set wins.
 
"It's really nice to be back home," said head coach Tristen Bryant-Otake. "We've wanted to come back and defend our home territory for a long time. I think it helped a lot that our momentum from doubles carried over into singles. The positive energy. We talk about it a lot."
 
The Mavericks (8-6, 6-2 NSIC) played in front of their home crowd for the first time in 11 matches and collected an important win over a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference foe. The Mavericks shut out UMC last season 7-0 in Bemidji.
 
Freia Lawrence deployed a combination of pace and angle to dismantle Madeleine Schneider at No. 1 with the occasional drop shot while Avery Stilwell's length and athleticism shined in a myriad of net exchanges against Ariadna Solis Guals at No. 3.

"That's something that she's always done well but progressed even more over the past year," Bryant-Otake said. "She's developed into one of our best doubles players. That's one of her main jobs is to be that net man and the more aggressive player. That's been her role and she does it really well."
 
Senior Chiara Carnelutti jumped out to a 4-1 first-set lead at No. 2 singles. After winning the set, she served to go ahead 5-4 at the change of ends in the second and won one of the longest rallies of the match in the first point of the following game, breaking serve at love to win 6-4.
 
McKenna DeMarce marched to a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 6. Then Daria Podmoginaia used her power off the forehand wing to shorten points and close at the net. Felderman finished off the seventh team point at No. 5, executing a low slice forehand to great effect.
 
Minnesota State snapped Minnesota Crookston's three-match win streak. The Golden Eagles (8-3, 3-3) play Winona State Saturday at Swanson Tennis Center. The Mavericks host Bemidji State for senior day Saturday at 11 a.m. in St. Peter. in their final regular season home match.

"Chiara is our only senior and she's a big part of our team," Bryant-Otake reflected. "She brings a lot of energy and the girls look up to her. I'm looking forward to sending her out with a bang tomorrow."
 
SCORES
Doubles

1. MSU (Avery Stilwell/Freia Lawrence) def. UMC (Daniela Rivera/Ariadna Solis Guals) 6-0
2. MSU (Chiara Carnelutti/Daria Podmogilnaia) def. UMC (Madeline Schneider/Kavya Singh) 6-1
3. MSU (Elizabeth Felderman/McKenna DeMarce) def. UMC (Nadia Cases Mundet/Kaydance Hinn) 6-0

Order of finish: 1,3,2
 
Singles

1. MSU (Freia Lawrence) def. UMC (Madeleine Schneider) 6-1, 6-1
2. MSU (Chiara Carnelutti) def. UMC (Daniela Rivera) 6-1, 6-4
3. MSU (Avery Stilwell) def. UMC (Ariadna Solis Guals) 6-3, 6-0
4. MSU (Daria Podmogilnaia) def. UMC (Nadia Cases Mundet) 6-1, 6-2
5. MSU (Elizabeth Felderman) def. UMC (Kavya Singh) 6-0, 6-3
6. MSU (McKenna DeMarce) def. UMC (Kaydance Hinn) 6-0, 6-0

Order of finish: 3,1,2,6,4,5
Time of match: 2 hrs, 56 min.