OWATONNA, Minn. - The Northern State tennis program returned to action this weekend, playing four matches in three days and coming home with a 2-2 split on the weekend.

NSU began the weekend with a hard-fought 4-5 loss to Minnesota State on Friday evening.  Northern State came out of doubles play leading 2-1 and picked up wins at No. 2 and No. 6 singles from fresmen Deanie Hatch and Valerie Robinson.  MSU countered with wins at No. 1, 3 and 5 singles, then escaped with the win after Shea Bakke battled NSU's Cortnei Chance to an 11-9 tiebreaker win at No. 4 singles to seal the Mavericks' team win.

"I was extremely proud of how hard my team played," said NSU head coach Mark Lovrien.  "They played an extremely close match with one of the best teams in the conference."

Both teams were forced to battle more than each other in that match.  Despite playing in an indoor bubble in St. Peter, Minn., the facility had no heat throughout the day.

Saturday's action began with an 8-1 loss to Winona State.  Senior Jamie Golden claimed NSU's lone win at No. 6 singles, defeating WSU's Brittney Freund 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

"We got off to a really slow start, but came on strong in the second set of our singles matches.  We showed a lot of determination against a very tough opponent," said Lovrien.  Five of the six singles matches had scores of 4-6 in at least one set.

The Wolves bounced back later in the day to claim a 9-0 sweep of Martin Luther with all six singles competitors winning by scores of 6-0 or 6-1. 

NSU then capped the weekend with a big 6-3 win over Upper Iowa on Sunday.  The victory marks the first over UIU since the program restarted in 2007-08.

NSU once again came out of doubles play leading 2-1 and continued the strong play through the singles matches.  Hatch, Robinson, Chance, and Golden all picked up victories in singles play to secure the team victory for the Wolves.

"We played excellent in doubles," said Lovrien.  "Cortnei and Mikela got things started by playing smart, aggressive tennis.  Jamie (Golden) and Deanie controled their match with consistent ground strokes and excellent play at the net.  Jamie Voelker and Cayla Cordova had their best doubles match to date.

"This was a big win for our team!" Lovrien continued.  "We were playing our fourth match of the weekend and our third match in 18 hours."

Robinson and Hatch each went 3-1 in singles matches to lead the way for NSU.  Golden was 2-0 in singles and teamed up with Hatch to go 2-0 in doubles.  Golden and freshman Aspin Rhoades also picked up a doubles victory for the Wolves.

All eight players who saw action in singles play picked up at least one individual victory.  All told, NSU went 13-11 in singles play and 7-5 in doubles.

NSU is back in action this weekend, taking on Minnesota, Crookston in Fargo, N.D.