The Benedictine University tennis team will have a busy Saturday, hosting two Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference opponents at the Aurora Vaughan Center. BenU will take on Wisconsin Lutheran College at 10:00 a.m. and Alverno College at 2:00 p.m.
Benedictine is 3-2 on the season and is coming off of a split last Saturday in Wisconsin, defeating Marian University and falling to Edgewood College. Earlier this season, the Eagles defeated both Milwaukee School of Engineering and Dominican University, but dropped a close 5-4 match to Concordia University-Wisconsin. Edgewood and CUW, both of BenU's losses, are unbeaten in NACC play.
As a team, the Eagles have been very strong in singles, going 21-9 in those matches.
Micah Goyao is unbeaten in all five of her singles competitions, while
Andrea Goyao and
Kam Haifleigh are both 4-1. In doubles, the Eagles are 8-7, with the tandem of Haifleigh and
Andrea Goyao leading the way at 3-2.
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Wisconsin Lutheran (2-2, 1-2): 10:00 a.m.
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The Warriors are off to a 2-2 start this season, with three of those games coming in NACC play. Wisconsin Lutheran opened the season with a defeat to Alverno on August 29, and split two NACC games on Saturday with a win over Concordia University-Chicago and a loss to Dominican. The team's lone non-conference game came back on September 3, which was a win at Beloit College.
Last season, the Eagles defeated Wisconsin Lutheran 5-4, which ended up as a critical game in the NACC standings. Benedictine finished 6-5 in NACC play and earned the fifth seed in the conference tournament, while the Warriors narrowly missed the tournament at 5-6.
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Alverno (4-1, 2-1): 2:00 p.m.
Alverno is off to an impressive start this season, as the team has jumped out to a 4-1 record. In conference play, the Inferno defeated Wisconsin Lutheran to open the season, and split with Concordia-Chicago (win) and Domincian (loss) on Saturday. Sunday, Alverno took on two non-conference foes, defeating both Beloit and Roosevelt University by a score of 5-4.
Benedictine was able to win convincingly over Alverno last season, winning 9-0 on the road. The win came against an Alverno team who finished 2-9 in the NACC last season, placing 11th in the 12-team conference. However, Inferno's fast start has the team currently sitting in fourth place compared to BenU's fifth place standing, making Saturday afternoon's contest important for NACC seeding.
