The Gustavus women’s tennis team participated in day two of the three-day1st Annual Gopher Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on Saturday. Lyndsey Palen recorded an upset win to move to Sunday’s championship match.
Palen advanced to Sunday’s championship match in the second singles flight with a pair of victories on Saturday. She recorded a straight sets 6-2 6-2 win over Iowa State’s Beth Chermel in the quarterfinal round. Palen then upset the University of Minnesota’s Brandi Watts 7-6 6-3 in the semifinal round. Palen will square off against Denver’s Jenny Trettin in the championship match on Sunday morning at 10:30.
In the number one singles flight, Jaimie Gaard was defeated by Denver’s Yanick Dullens Saturday morning. Gaard then lost her consolation match to Iris Jaklin from Illinois-Chicago. Elsewhere in that flight, Lauren Horn won her first consolation match over UW-Milwaukee’s Van Lieshout before falling to Denver’s Suzana Maksovic in her afternoon match.
Opposite Palen in the number two singles flight, Marla Menne won her first consolation match against Kristin Leeder from UW-Green Bay. Menne then dropped a match to Drake’s Rebekah Thomas.
In the number three singles flight, Mikaela Schmitt won her quarterfinal match against Danielle Uscinski from Iowa State. Schmitt was then defeated in the semifinal round by Denver’s Rachel Sackmaster. Also in that flight, Kara Smiley dropped her quarterfinal match before rebounding for a consolation match victory.
Darcy Haubrick and Hannah Frericks both lost their semifinal matches in the number four singles flight. The two will square off for third place on Sunday morning at 10:30.
In doubles play, the number one flight featured two Gustavus tandems posting two consolation bracket wins apiece. Palen/Bashleben recorded wins over a team from North Dakota and a team from UW-Milwaukee. In the other half of the bracket, Horn/Schmitt won two matches over a duo from UW-Milwaukee and Iowa State. The two Gustie doubles teams will square off for the consolation title on Sunday morning at 9:00.
In the number two doubles flight, the Gustavus duo of Gaard/Smiley won over a squad from UW-Green Bay to advance to the consolation championship on Sunday morning at 9:00. Elsewhere in that flight, Haubrick/Menne won their match over a doubles team from North Dakota. They will continue consolation play on Sunday morning at 9:00.
Gustavus sent four doubles teams and eight singles players to the Invitational, which consists of seven NCAA Division I schools (Denver, Drake, Iowa State, Illinois-Chicago, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee), one Division II school (North Dakota), and one Division III school (Gustavus).