The Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis team opened its fall season at the six-team Drake Invitatoinal in Des Moines, Iowa. Andy Bryan (Jr., Edina, Minn.) and Jesse Brauer (Sr., Mankato, Minn.) reached the consolation final of A Flight Singles Tournament, while Chad Olson (Jr., Shoreview, Minn.) and Ben Tomasek (So., Oakdale, Minn.) reached the consolation final of the B Flight Singles Tournament. The doubles team of Mike Burdakin (So., Bettendorf, Iowa) and Charlie Paukert (So., Grand Forks, N.D.) advanced to the quarterfinal round of the doubles draw. The Gusties were the only non-scholarship program in the tournament.
In “A” Flight singles competition, Paukert defeated Vinnie Fallico of the University of Northern Colorado 6-7, 6-2, 10-8 in the opening round before falling to Drake’s Ivan Mendoza 0-6, 4-6. Andy Bryan and Jesse Brauer each dropped first-round championship matches, but rebounded to win two matches each on the consolation side to meet in the final, which was not contested.
In “B” Flight singles, Nick Hansen (Fr., Duluth, Minn.) picked up a pair of championship draw wins before falling to Drake’s Ricardo Lau 3-6, 0-6 in the quarterfinals. Aaron Zenner (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.)downed Dave Iancu of Drake 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 in the first round before a 5-7, 3-6 quarterfinal loss to Creighton University’s Mike Elson ended his day. Chad Olson and Ben Tomasek each lost first round matches on the championship side, but both rebounded to win a pair of matches in the “B” Flight consolation draw to meet in the consolation final. That match was not contested.
The doubles team of Mike Burdakin and Charlie Paukert won a close first-round match in the doubles draw 9-7 over the mixed team of Chuck Levaque of Eastern Illinois University and Javier Bernabe of Norther Illinois University, but fell in the quarterfinals to Sergi Vila/Maor Zirkin of Drake University 8-4. Two other Gustavus doubles tandems found themselves on the opposite end of 9-7 first round scores. Andy Bryan and Jesse Brauer fell to Brian Livingston/Alex Friesen of Northern Illinois, while Nick Hansen and Ben Tomasek fell to Adam Ford/Diego Zegarra-Ballon, also of NIU.