Steve Wilkinson

The United States Tennis Association (USTA) Northern Section along with Gustavus Adolphus College will be holding a tribute for legendary Gustavus Tennis Coach Steve Wilkinson on Saturday, December 12 at 5:00 pm at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis.  The event will honor Wilkinson for his contributions to tennis at all levels for the past 40 years.  Wilkinson, who retired as the Gusties head coach last year after 39 years at Gustavus, is currently an assistant coach for the Gusties and is still operating his Tennis and Life Camps at Gustavus in the summer months.

Anyone interested in attending the event can get information and make reservations at http://www.wilkinson.ezregister.com.

Questions should be directed to Gustavus men’s tennis coach Tommy Valentini at tvalenti@gustavus.edu or by calling 507-933-6185.

Intercollegiate Tennis Association

Gustavus Adolphus College is hosting the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championship at the Swanson Indoor Tennis Center and the Brown Outdoor Courts. The Men’s Division III Midwest Region Championships will take place Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4.

The Wilson/ITA Men’s Division III Championships at Gustavus will feature 26 of the top small college tennis programs in the region. The singles and doubles champions from this weekend’s tournament advance to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Small College Championships which will take place at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Alabama on Oct. 15-18.

Approximately one hundred seventy-five of the top singles and doubles players in the Midwest will take part in the tournament which will begin with singles matches on Friday morning at 9 am. Mike Greenberg of Kenyon College is the #1 seed in the singles draw. Other seeds include second seeded Juan Carlos Perez Borja of Grinnell, third seeded Scott Sundstrom of Luther, and fourth seeded Sammy Ramoni of Carthage. The doubles competition will begin on Saturday. Mike Greenberg and Will Vandenberg of Kenyon are the #1 seeded doubles team. Other seeds include the second seeded team of Amrik Donkena and Tyler Johnson of Gustavus, the third seeded team of Harry Whitely and Max Busch of Luther, and the fourth seeded team of Ben Guzick and Winston Park of Carleton. The Swanson Indoor Tennis Center, located on the west edge of the Gustavus campus, will serve as headquarters for the Wilson/ITA Midwest Region Championships, with matches taking place at Swanson and the adjacent Brown Outdoor Courts, as well as the Gibbs Tennis Courts, which are situated just north of the Gustavus main entrance.

The ITA National Small College Championships began in 1986 and annually crowns men’s and women’s singles and doubles national champions in each of the ITA’s four small college divisions (NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community College). The national champions from each division square off in the “Super Bowl” of Small College Tennis to determine the overall ITA National Small College Champions (who then earn berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, a Division I event, in November).

As the governing body of collegiate tennis the ITA promotes both the athletic and academic achievements of the collegiate tennis community. The ITA, which was founded in 1956 and is based in Skillman, N.J., administers numerous regional and national championships, the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, presented by the USTA, and the ITA Rankings for men’s and women’s tennis at the NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA and Junior College levels. The ITA also has a comprehensive awards program for players and coaches to honor excellence in academics, leadership and sportsmanship. The official ITA website is www.itatennis.com.

Tournament Website

The Gusties had the most success in the doubles draw where the duos of Tyler Johnson and Amrik Donkena and Patrick Clark and Niko Karnop both advanced to the semifinals before bowing out.

In singles play, Tyler Johnson compiled a record of 1-1 in Flight B, Kyle Olson posted a mark of 1-1 in Flight C.

The Gusties will close out their fall season by hosting the ITA Midwest Regional on Oct. 2-4 at the Brown Outdoor Courts and the Swanson Indoor Tennis Center.

Complete Results

Johnson and Donkena received a bye in the first round and then defeated Jameson Goetz and Dan Tully of South Dakota State — 8-2 in the second round and James McKie and Guilherme Marsiglia of Drake, 9-8 (7-3) in the quarterfinals.

Clark and Karnop defeated Bryan Lube and Connor Macey of Creighton, 8-6 in the first round and then knocked off Jamie Dash and Dominic Rossetto of South Dakota State, 8-3 in the second round. They wrapped up the day with an impressive win over Jonathan Hadash and Brendan Ruddock of the Univeristy of Minnesota by the score of 8-6.

Johnson and Donkena will now face Clark and Karnop in the semifinals of the doubles draw on Saturday.

Kryshan Jethwa and Kyle Olson also participated in the doubles draw. They lost their first round match to Ryan Drake and Sergey Dulin of Drake by the score of 8-5.

The singles draw will be played on Saturday morning and the doubles semifinals will take place on Saturday afternoon. The tournament will wrap up on Sunday.

The teams participating along with Gustavus in the tournament include host Drake University (Division I), the University of Minnesota (Division I), South Dakota State University (Division I), Creighton (Division I), Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (Division II), and Northern Colorado University (Division I).

Senior John Kauss ended the season at 33-7 in singles play.

Senior Mike Burdakin teamed with Kauss to finish the year at 29-7 in doubles.

Gustavus Adolphus College senior men’s tennis players John Kauss (St. Paul, Minn./Harding) and Mike Burdakin (Sr., Bettendorf, Iowa) saw their seasons come to an end after losses in singles and doubles at the 2009 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships in Claremont, Calif. Kauss fell in the semifinal round of singles play, while Burdakin and Kauss bowed out of the doubles draw in the quarterfinals.

John Kauss (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) defeated Will Zhang of the University of Chicago 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinal round, but fell to Ben Stein of Bates College 7-5, 7-5 in a semifinal match. It was the first loss for Kauss against a Division III opponent this season, as he finished the year at 33-7. Stein will face Michael Goodwin of Emory in the championship on Sunday at 2 p.m. (CDT).

In quarterfinal doubles action, Mike Burdakin and John Kauss faced Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal of Trinity University (TX). Burdakin and Kauss dropped the first set 6-3 followed by a 6-2 second set loss to be eliminated from the doubles draw. The tandem finished the season at 29-7. Cocanougher and Kowal will face Jamie Neely and Oscar Pena of Bowdoin College on Sunday at 3 p.m. (CDT). Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland of Washington University (Mo.) will face Amrit Ruspasinghe and Ben Stein of Bates in the other semifinal, which will begin after the completion of the singles final.

NCAA Championships Website

John Kauss

Mike Burdakin

Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis player John Kauss (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) won two singles matches before pairing with Mike Burdakin (Sr., Bettendorf, Iowa) to win a doubles match to to the quarterfinals of both the singles and doubles draws at the 2009 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships. The championships are being held at Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, Calif. Quarterfinals in both draws and semifinals in singles will be contested on Saturday.

Kauss, who is rated first nationally, opened the day with a 6-2, 6-1 over Max Frey of Trinity University (TX) before facing Randy Loden of Mary Washington. Kauss dropped the first set 6-3, but battled back to win the next two sets 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals where he will face Will Zhang of the University of Chicago. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the singles draw will be be played on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. (CDT).

Burdakin and Kauss, the top-rated doubles team in the nation, competed against David Maldow and Andrew Wang of Johns Hopkins University in the first round of doubles play. The Gusties prevailed in a tight first set 7-6 (7-5) before winning the second set 6-3. Burdakin and Kauss will face Bobby Cocanougher and Cory Kowal of Trinity University (TX) in the quarterfinals no earlier than 4 p.m. (CDT) depending on singles results.

NCAA Championships Website

Mike Burdakin defeated Charlie Cutler at #2 singles 7-6, 6-2.

Charlie Paukert kept Gustavus alive with a victory at #3 singles by the score of 6-2, 6-4.

The Gustavus men’s tennis team saw its season come to an end after suffering a 5-3 loss to Washington University in the NCAA quarterfinal round on Tuesday morning. The NCAA Championship is being hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College in Claremont, Calif. The Gusties finish the season at 27-9, while the Bears improved to 22-2.

Gustavus trailed 2-0 early in doubles play as Washington’s Max Woods and Isaac Stein defeated Charlie Paukert and Ben Tomasek 8-3 at the #2 spot and John Watts and Nirmal Choradia defeated Nick Hansen and Kevin Stickney 8-5 at #3 doubles. The Gusties tallied their first point of the match when Mike Burdakin and John Kauss defeated Charlie Cutler and Chris Hoeland 8-5 at the #1 position.

The Bears went ahead 4-1 after Chris Hoeland defeated Patrick Clark 6-2, 6-4 at #6 singles and Danny Levy defeated Kevin Stickney 7-6, 6-3 at #5 singles. Gustavus pulled to within 4-3 after winning the next two singles matches. Mike Burdakin defeated Charlie Cutler 7-6, 6-2 at the #2 spot, while Charlie Paukert defeated Max Woods 6-2, 6-4 at the #3 position. However, Washington tallied the deciding point at #4 singles when Isaac Stein defeated Ben Tomasek 6-3, 6-3. John Kauss dropped the first set against John Watts 7-5 at #1 singles before winning the second set 6-1 when the match was abandoned.

John Kauss will compete in the singles tournament which begins on Friday, and he will team with Mike Burdakin to take part in doubles tournament which also begins on Friday.

Box Score

NCAA Championships Website

Gustavus Adolphus will face Washington (Mo.) in the quarterfinal round of the 2009 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships.

The Gustavus Adolphus College men’s tennis team will participate in the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships Tuesday-Sunday, May 19-24 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, Calif. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps is the host institution. Gustavus will face Washington University in St. Louis in a quarterfinal match at 12 pm (CDT), Tuesday, May 19. Individual competition in singles and doubles will follow team competition May 22-24.

The quarterfinal field for the NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships is composed of eight of the top nine teams in the most recent ITA Division III men’s tennis rankings. The field is led by top-ranked and defending champion Washington University (Mo.). Also included in the field is No. 2 Emory, No. 5 Middlebury, No. 6 Amherst, No. 7 Kenyon, No. 8 Williams, and No. 9 Gustavus Adolphus.

The individual championships consist of 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams. The selection of teams and individuals for the championships is based on won-lost record, strength of schedule and eligibility and availability of student-athletes. Men’s individual selections were announced May 7. John Kauss (Sr., St. Paul, Minn.) was selected for the 32-person singles draw while teaming with Mike Burdakin (Sr., Bettendorf, Iowa) to fill one of the 16 spots in the doubles draw. Kauss (31-6) is the top-ranked Division III singles player in country and is undefeated against Division III competitors at 24-0. The duo have also paired up to post a 27-6 record in doubles, ranking first in the Central Region and second nationally.

Team Tournament Schedule (all times listed are CDT)
Tuesday, May 19
12:00 p.m. Quarterfinal Match #1 – #1 Washington University vs. #9 Gustavus Adolphus
12:00 p.m. Quarterfinal Match #2 – #5 Middlebury vs. #6 Amherst
4:00 p.m. Quarterfinal Match #3 – #2 Emory vs. #7 Kenyon
4:00 p.m. Quarterfinal Match #4 – #4 UC-Santa Cruz vs. #8 Williams

Wednesday, May 20
3:00 p.m. Semifinal Match #1 – Winner of match 1 vs. Winner of match 2
3:00 p.m. Semifinal Match #2 – Winner of match 3 vs. Winner of match 4

Thursday, May 21
2:00 p.m. Third-Place Match
3:00 p.m. National Championship Match

2009 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships Website

The Gusties, who are now 27-8 overall, will compete at the NCAA Team Championships hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges on May 19-21 in Claremont, California.

Match Results

The Gusties took control of the match by winning all three doubles matches and taking a 3-0 lead heading into singles play. John Kauss and Mike Burdakin defeated Kelvin Caiati and Alex Lowe 8-3 at the #1 position and Charlie Paukert and Ben Tomasek defeated Erich Palecek and Danny Glinert 8-3 at the #2 position, but the #3 doubles was a real battle and Nick Hansen and Kevin Stickney had to go to a tiebreaker before defeating Tim Moller and Erik Scanlan 9-8 (7-0).

In singles play, John Kauss defeated Alex Lowe 6-1, 6-0 at the #1 position and Nick Hansen defeated Alex Morey 6-4, 6-3 at the #6 position to give the Gusties the five points necessary to close out the match.

The win was the eighth straight win for the Gusties who improved to 26-8 on the season.

The winner of Sunday’s regional final between Gustavus and Luther will advance to the NCAA Team Championship Finals on May 19-21 at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center in Claremont, Calif. on the campus of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

Complete Results