Thanks to respective wins over Southern Indiana, both, the Northern Kentucky University Men and Women’s tennis teams have earned spots for the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament.

The women’s team clinched the tournament berth with a 9-0 route over Southern Indiana. The men’s team’s qualification, however, was attained in much more dramatic of a fashion, with the Norse claiming a 5-4 nail biter against the Miners.

With doubles action by the wayside, the singles flight left the match in a 4-4 tie, and set up for some late Norse heroics.

After losing the first set of the No. 1 singles flight in an 8-6 tiebreaker, and sneaking up from behind to post a 7-5 win in the second set, Ortiz capped the suspenseful outing with a 6-4 win over Gimenez.

Kramer, the only Norse to claim to wins in the contest, reflected on the tournament berth after the match.

‘It feels pretty good to already have booked our spot,’ he said.
In women’s play, the No. 34 nationally ranked Norse cruised past Southern Indiana, losing only one set in route to the shut out.

In the No. 2 singles flight, junior Stephanie Isaacs defeated Miners’ sophomore Michelle Girgenti in the first set 6-0, before losing the second set 6-7 (4-7), and claimed the third set 1-0 (10-7).

‘ ‘She was making all her shots and the match became extremely competitive after the first set,’ Isaacs said.

Sophomore Kristen Sunday, junior Michelle Schirman, freshman Jenny Hand, freshman Jillian Sturgeon, and junior Maggie Koetter each competed and claimed single flight wins for the Norse as well.

In the doubles flight, Issacs and Sturgeon teamed up for a 8-4 victory over Girgenti and senior Reilly Ackerman; Sunday and Schirman defeated junior Gretchen Cantwell and junior Katie Jo Clagg 8-1; and Hand and sophomore Ivana Misic posted a 8-6 win over sophomore Jennie LaBonte and senior Emily Schum.

The women’s team will travel to play Kentucky Wesleyan April 17 and Bellarmine University April 18 while the men’s team will travel to Owensboro, Ky. to take on the Brescia University Bearcats on April 17 and will return home to play Bellarmine April 19 before both programs begin tournament play April 24-25 in St. Louis, Mo.