WINONA, Minn. – The Bemidji State University Women's Tennis team picked up their first conference victory of the season taking down Upper Iowa by a score of 4-3 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play on Saturday afternoon. The match was played at a neutral site in Winona.

Upper Iowa (0-2, 0-2 NSIC) opened the match taking the doubles point. Blanca Lopez-Oro/Nicoleta Anestiadi went extra in their match at the top flight. Despite pushing the match into a tiebreaker, they just fell short 7-6 (4). Isabela Nelson/Laura Burger tallied three games at No. 2 before falling short 6-3. Lexi Leitner/Lily Jones won by default at No. 3.

The Peacocks only had five players on the day, so Bemidji State (2-6, 1-2 NSIC) picked up the No. 6 match that Leitner was going to play by default. Nelson cruised to the 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 4. Jones then helped move the Beavers to match point with her 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 5. Lopez-Oro claimed six games at No. 1 before falling short, 6-2, 6-4. Then at No. 3, Burger came away with seven games before coming up short by scores of 6-4, 6-3. That meant the match came down to the No. 2 spot. Anestiadi battled through a challenging first set to claim the 6-4 win. She then rode that momentum to a 6-1 win in the second to secure the 4-3 victory for the Beavers.

Anestiadi is now 5-1 on the season in singles play, having moved up to play the No. 2 spot over the past several matches. Nelson and Jones each picked up their first singles wins of the year.

Bemidji State will now be off until Mar. 4 when they will play Bethel in Rogers, Minn. The next NSIC match will arrive on Mar. 17 when the Beavers play at Minnesota Duluth.