The St. Thomas women’s tennis team capped off a busy weekend Sunday afternoon at the University of Minnesota Baseline Tennis Center, defeating St. Catherine 6-3 in a hard-fought contest to remain unbeaten this season.

On Saturday, the men’s team (6-1 overall, 4-1 MIAC) defeated St. Mary’s 7-2, and the women’s team (10-0 overall, 5-0 MIAC) notched a 9-0 victory. Coach Terry Peck said he has liked what he’s seen from both his men’s and women’s teams so far this season.

“Both teams are talented,” Peck said. “They’re both working to have successful seasons, and they’re pretty focused on accomplishing that.”

Despite being satisfied with their victory on Saturday, the women’s performance against a stronger opponent in St. Kate’s on Sunday was more significant.

“Our freshman at the bottom and our senior leader, Kara Lefsrud at number four, established that we weren’t going to get beat,” Peck said. “And then our sixth point was Bridget Noack, who was struggling at the beginning and then came back and won the second set 6-0 and the third set tiebreaker 10-4.”

While the men’s team is off to a great start, the women’s record remains unblemished this season. Peck attributed the early success to the team’s depth.

“The women have a team with really talented players and excellent senior leadership,” Peck said. “That’s setting the way and getting the freshman acclimated to the team. Usually freshman take a little seasoning to be successful in the MIAC because it’s a pretty strong conference, but our team has done a good job.”

Junior Shelby Henderson attributed matches throughout the season to her growing confidence over the weekend.

“That competition and extra experience and just being out there has really helped to make me feel comfortable on the court,” Henderson said.

Peck said Henderson has been one of the premier players on the team throughout her career.

“Shelby is a very talented player,” Peck said. “She’s played some great matches for St. Thomas over the past couple years, and we look for more coming from her.”

In the men’s matchup against St. Mary’s on Saturday, the effort was spearheaded by depth as well. Sophomore Luke Elifson and junior Brady Radermacher, sophomore Burke Anderson and sophomore Scott Wall, and junior Allen-Michael Muench and sophomore Matt Kavanagh were victorious in all three doubles matches for St. Thomas, winning with scores of 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3, respectively.

Kavanagh said their success against opponents all season has stemmed from being competitive with each other in practice. Peck said he is enjoying Kavanagh’s play and is hoping for continued growth.

“Matt Kavanagh is an excellent doubles player, and we’re hoping he keeps improving and maybe down the line can help us with singles too,” Peck said.

Elifson, Wall, Muench and Tom Runde were also victorious in singles competition.

Moving forward, both teams are striving to improve and stay consistent. Henderson said the strongest part of the women’s team is the camaraderie.

“We definitely care a lot about each other,” Henderson said. “It’s nice that we’re able to go through college together and be a part of something special at St. Thomas.”

Both teams will head to Florida over spring break to continue their seasons. The women take on Warner University (Florida) Tuesday, March 31, while the men’s next contest is Monday, March 30, against Eckerd College (Florida).

Andrew Frentz can be reached at fren2219@stthomas.edu.