The Gustavus men’s tennis team suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to #1 seed Emory in the semifinals of the Division III Indoor Championships being held at the Swanson Tennis Center on the Gustavus campus. The Gusties will now play Redlands for third place.
Emory, who defeated the Gusties in the ITA Indoor Championship match last season, started today’s match by picking up the all-important doubles point. The Eagles #1 doubles team of Mark Odgers and Alex Jacobs defeated Adam Morgan and Brett Morse-Karzen 8-2, and then Tyson Ramsay and Josh Rubens knocked off Ben Lundell and Jess Brauer 8-3 at the #2 position. Andy Bryan and Roy Bryan of Gustavus were leading Jesse Ferlianto and Patrick Redmond at #3 doubles when the match was stopped because the doubles point had been decided.
The Gusties made the match interesting in the singles matches by winning at the #3, #4, and #5 positions. Jesse Brauer defeated Jesse Ferlianto 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 at #3, Brett Morse-Karzen defeated Patrick Redmond 6-3, 6-4 at #4, and Andy Bryan defeated Tyson Ramsay 7-5, 6-3.
Emory claimed the three singles victories they needed to slip past the Gusties and into the championshp match for the third consecutive year. Yoji Masuoka defeated Ben Lundell 6-3, 6-3 at the #1 position, Mark Odgers defeated Adam Morgan 6-2, 6-2 at the #2 position and Josh Rubens picked up the clinching win at #5 where he defeated Roy Bryan 6-0, 6-2.
The ITA Indoor Championships will wrap up on Sunday morning with #1 Emory facing #2 UC-Santa Cruz in the title match and #3 University of Redlands battling #5 Gustavus in the third place match. Both matches will begin at 9:00 am Central Standard Time.