Saints defeat St. James in dramatic fashion to claim Big South Conference Championship

A day removed from suffering their first loss of the season to No. 6 ranked Prior Lake, the St. Peter girls tennis team returned to the courts to take on the defending conference champion St. James Saints in the Big South Championship match. As expected, the championship came down to a single point and with the both Saints teams having secured three points, the doubles No. 3 matchup between sophomore Ella Dirks and Ellie Romsdam became the center of attention as the only match to reach a third set.

Even a standard third set wasn’t enough to determine a winner as it went to tiebreaks. When push came to shove though, it was Dirks who came out on top, winning the third set 7-6(4) to secure the Big South Conference Title for St. Peter.

The victory also improves the Saints record to 17-1 on the season.

For Dirk’s contest to hold the weight that it did though, it took a total team effort as Annika Southworth earned a 2-0 (6-0, 6-0) victory at singles No. 1 while the teams of Nora Whipps alongside Kylie Southworth and Sada Harmes with Leah Boomgaarden earned 2-0 victories in doubles No. 1 and No. 3 respectively.

The newly minted conference champions will return to action Thursday, Sep. 26, when the Saints travel to Mound Westonka for a dual before traveling to St. James Saturday, Sep. 28, for a tournament.

St. Peter — 4, St. James — 3

Singles

No. 1: Annika Southworth (STP) def. Keyaja Hauer, 2-0 (6-0, 6-0)

No. 2: Elizabeth Shores (STJ) def. Brielle Romasiewicz, 2-0 (6-4, 7-5)

No. 3: Ella Dirks (STP) def. Ellie Romsdam, 2-1 (4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4))

No. 4: Dani Trapedo (STJ) def. Kady Thoms, 2-0 (6-4, 6-2)

Doubles

No. 1: Nora Whipps/Kylie Southworth (STP) def. Ellie Anderson/Maya Romsdal, 2-0 (6-4, 6-2)

No. 2: Ruby Ciske/Valeria Aguilar (STJ) def. Margaux Letts/Natalie Salfer, 2-0 (6-4, 7-6(4))

No. 3: Sada Harmes/Leah Boomgaarden (STP) def. Julia Westman/Maren Bluearn, 2-0 (7-5, 6-1)