The Gustavus Adolphus College women’s tennis team qualified to compete in the 2005 NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Championships on May 18-20 at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Gusties (30-2) advanced to the NCAA Team Championship quarterfinals for the 17th consecutive time by defeating Carthage 5-2 in the Central Sub-Region championship match on May 8 hosted at Gustavus.
Gustavus will play Middlebury (14-2) in the quarterfinals of the Team Championships at 9:30 a.m. on May 18. If the Gusties win, they would play the winner of Washington & Lee (20-0) and Denison (20-2).
Two singles players and two doubles teams also advanced for Gustavus individually. Tara Houlihan and Lauren Hom qualified individually, while the doubles teams of Houlihan/Lyndsey Palen and Hom/Kara Smiley both landed national tournament berths. The individual singles and doubles championships will be held on May 21-23. In the singles quarterfinals, Houlihan will play top-seeded Lindsay Hagerman from Washington & Lee, while Hom will face Abby Lerner from Brandeis. In doubles, Houlihan/Palen will play Jenna Mezin/Hali Walther from Wellesley, while Hom/Smiley will compete against Jamie Chan/Carina Alberelli of Emory University.
Gustavus Coach Jon Carlson said of the match-up against Middlebury, “We have been focusing on this match all season. Since 1998, we haven’t made it past the quarterfinals. This year we’re looking to improve on that. It has been our goal this year to make it into one of the top four seeds and we’re happy we’ve accomplished that.”
Gustavus line-up
Singles
#1 — Tara Houlihan *
#2 — Lauren Hom *
#3 — Kara Smiley
#4 — Lyndsey Palen
#5 — Jaime Gaard
#6 — Marla Menne
Doubles
#1 — Tara Houlihan/Lyndsey Palen *
#2 — Lauren Hom/Kara Smiley *
#3 — Marla Menne/Jenni White
* Denotes individual singles and doubles qualifiers.