The Gustavus men’s tennis team opened its home slate with a pair of victories Saturday at the Swanson Tennis Center. The Gusties opened the day with an 8-1 win over Minnesota State Mankato and wrapped it up with 9-0 win over Bethel in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tilt.
Gustavus Adolphus 8, Minnesota State Mankato 1
Against MSU, the Gusties jumped to an early 3-0 lead after the doubles matches. The doubles teams of Will Colmar (Sr., Northfield, Ill.) and Tim Gruenisen (Sr., Madison, Wis.) and Aaron Zenner (So., St. Paul, Minn.) and Griffin Foley (So., White Bear Lake, Minn.) picked up 8-2 wins at #1 and #2 doubles, respectively, while Dave Koppel (Fr., Gahanna, Ohio) and Ben Tomasek (Fr., Oakdale, Minn.) needed a tie-breaker to prevail 9-8 at #3 doubles.
Gruenisen, Tomasek, Zenner and Foley each picked up wins at singles to move to 2-0 on the day, while Brian Laumeyer (Jr., Owatonna, Minn.) added a 6-0, 6-2 win over Bryan Hoff at #6 singles.
Mike Belisle picked up the lone Maverick win, defeating Colmar 2-6, 7-6 (2), 10-8 at #1 singles.
Gustavus Adolphus 9, Bethel Univesity 0
In the MIAC opener against Bethel, the Gusties rolled out a second line-up with Charlie Paukert (Fr., Grand Forks, N.D.) and Nick Hansen (Fr., Duluth, Minn.) teaming up for an 8-1 win at #1 doubles, Danny Suchy (Jr., LaCrosse, Wis.) and Will Butzlaff (Jr., Lake Bluff, Ill.) prevailing 8-3 at #2 doubles and Matt Toppin (So., Hastings, Minn.) and Alex Horton (So., Newport, Wales) picking up an 8-5 win at #3 doubles.
Junior Claudio Bravo (Tucson, Ariz.) replaced Toppin in the singles line-up, winning 6-3, 6-1 over Bethel’s Josh Widen at #3 singles. Paukert, Hansen, Suchy, Butzlaff and Horton all paired their doubles victories with wins in singles competition. All won in straight sets with only Paukert giving up more than three points in a set.
The Gusties improve to 3-2 overall, 1-0 in the MIAC and will host three Division I opponents next weekend. Duquesne University visits Swanson Tennis Center Friday evening while South Dakota State University and UW-Green Bay come to St. Peter on Saturday. Gustavus will also send part of the squad to Owatonna to face St. Olaf Saturday afternoon in another MIAC dual.