WOMEN’S TENNIS

OWATONNA — The MLC women’s tennis team played a couple of matches in Owatonna on Saturday and split the pair, falling 4-3 to Ripon in the morning and winning 5-2 to against Crown to finish off the night.

Ripon 4, MLC 3

MLC won two out of three doubles games with a victory in No. 1 singles 6-4 from the duo of Britney Prahl and Emily Gronholz. The Knights other win came from Elizabeth Bigelow and Callie Bivens in No. 3 doubles 6-4.

The singles matchups were all tightly contested, with Prahl keeping it close in No. 1 singles before being edged out. Gronholz had a hard-fought win in No. 2 singles, winning 2-6,6-3, 1-0 (10-2).

The third MLC point of the match came via Mathilde Bodenbender-Benner in No. 6 singles 6-2, 6-3.

MLC 5, Crown 2

The Knights closed out the day with its first victory of the 2026 season as MLC won 5-2 over the Polars. The Knights would once again claim two of the three doubles games with Prahl and Gronholz getting it done in No. 1 6-1, while Karly Miller and Rebekah Schroeder beat out their opponent in No. 2 7-6 (7-2).

Prahl 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 controlled her match in No. 1 singles, while Gronholz picked up another victorious outcome in No. 2 7-5, 6-4. In No. 4 singles, Schroeder took it 6-2, 6-1, and in No. 6 singles, Bivens topped her adversary 7-5, 6-3.

MLC women’s tennis will have two weeks off before they play again at Lawrence University on Saturday, February 28, at 3 p.m.

MEN’S TENNIS

OWATONNA — The MLC men’s tennis team had a successful pair of matches on Saturday at a neutral site venue in Owatonna. The Knights defeated Ripon College 5-2 in the morning and topped Crown College in a nonconference match in the evening, 4-3.

MLC 5, Ripon 2

MLC picked up its first win of the season against the Redhawks, and even though Ripon won two of three doubles games to claim one point, the Knights bounced back in singles play. Although it did not count toward the final total, Gideon Heins and Isaiah Scharf had a 6-3 edge in No. 2 doubles.

MLC claimed five of the six singles games. Eli Stern took down his counterpart 6-2, 6-2 in No. 2 singles, while Heins beat his No. 3 opponent 4-6, 6-1, 1-0, finishing strong with a 10-5 decision in the third-set tiebreaker. Scharf also won in tie-breaking fashion in the third set, winning 7-5, 1-6, 1-0 (10-3) in No. 4 singles.

Matthew Koelpin won in straight sets 6-1, 6-0 in No. 5 singles, while Abraham Schlomer beat his fellow No. 6 player 6-2, 6-3.

MLC 4, Crown 3

In the second match of the day, MLC did enough to get past the Polars 4-3. The Knights took two out of three in doubles competition as Heins and Scharf won 6-2 in No. 2, while the duo of Carson Mattek/Silas Hillmer got the job done in No. 3 doubles 6-4.

With Crown taking No. 1 and No. 2 singles, the Knights won the match by winning No. 3, No. 5, and No. 6 singles. Heins came up victorious again in No. 3 6-1, 6-4, as did Koelpin 6-3, 6-2 in No. 5 and Schlomer in No. 6 6-4, 6-3.

MLC will have two weeks off before its next match at Lawrence University in Appleton on Saturday, February 28, at 3 p.m.