ST. PETER, Minn. — Saint Mary’s University’s
Bailey Edwards (Fond du Lac, Wis.) and
Rebecca Snyder (Eden Prairie, Minn.) turned plenty of heads with their play as the Cardinals’ top two singles players a year ago.
And the duo picked up right where they left off during the first day of the 2009 Wilson/ITA Women’s Division III Championships.
Edwards collected three straight singles wins to earn a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals, while Snyder also opened with a win, before bowing out in the round of 32.
“Bailey and Rebecca played very well,” said SMU coach Jeff Halberg. “It was nice to see them pick up right where they left off last spring.”
Edwards opened with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over ninth-seeded Abby Ho of St. Olaf, and followed that up with a 6-2, 1-6, 10-5 victory over Gustavus’ Megan Gaard on Friday. In the Round of 16, Edwards continued to shine, racing past Concordia’s Andrea Rognlien 6-3, 6-0 to reach the ITA quarterfinals.
In the quarters, the Cardinal sophomore’s run came to a screeching halt, as Gustavus’ Sam Frank posted a 6-3, 6-0 victory.
Snyder, meanwhile, kicked off her tournament with a 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 win over UW-Whitewater’s Amy Siemon, but then came up short in a three-set, 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 loss to fourth-seeded Hannah Jensen of Coe.
SMU’s dynamic duo wasn’t quite as fortunate when they teamed up in the doubles portion of the tournament Saturday, falling to Carthage’s Hollis McPeek-Gina Klein 8-5.
The Cardinals also had three players compete in the Gustavus Fall Invitational Friday.
Andrea Allis (Wells, Minn.) won her first two matches — beating Heather Annis of Gustavus 8-3 and Julia Ellis of St. Olaf 8-5, before falling to UW-La Crosse’s Mara Weiner 8-2 — while
Emily DeWitt (Lino Lakes, Minn.) went 1-1 with a win over Hamline’s Kristin Kiemele (8-6) and a loss to St. Scholastica’s Angela Shields (8-6), and
Abby Voigt (Burnsville, Minn.) dropped an 8-5 decision to UW-Whitewater’s Sydney Civeleiss 8-5.
The tournament feature 19 of the top schools in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend's tournament advance to the Oct. 15-18 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama. Eighty of the top singles and doubles players in the Midwest will take part in the tournament.