The Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis team improved to 13-5 on the season and 7-0 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with league wins Saturday over Bethel (9-0), St. Olaf (7-2), and Saint John’s (9-0).
Gustavus Adolphus 9, Bethel 0 – Box Score
Gustavus opened the day by sending part of the team to the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis to face Bethel. The Gusties built a 3-0 lead after taking all three doubles matches. John Kauss (So., St. Paul, Minn./Harding) and Aaron Zenner (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) defeated Chris Scheevel and Mark Hallstrom 8-1 at the No. 1 spot, followed by an 8-2 win by Griffin Foley (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn./Mahtomedi) and Danny Suchy (Sr., La Crosse, Wis./Central) over Steve Torres and David Torres at the No. 2 position. Theo Roth (So., Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert) and Ryan Dunn (Fr., Fond du Lac, Wis.) rounded out doubles play with an 8-3 win over Joel Cassens and Jordon LeFebvre at the No. 3 spot.
In singles play, half of the Gustavus pushed through in straight sets, while the other half had to sweat out ten-point super-breakers to win their matches. Suchy stopped David Torres 6-1, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, Foley downed Cassens 6-1, 6-1 at No. 4 singles, and Dunn topped Hallstrom 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot.
After dropping only one game in their doubles match, Kauss and Zenner were two of those that needed the extra set in singles play. At No. 1 singles, Kauss dropped the first set to Scheevel 6-2, but responded to take the second 6-1 and the breaker by a 10-6 score. Zenner cruised through his first set against Steve Torres at No. 3 singles 6-0, but dropped a close second set 7-5 before surviving the breaker 12-10 to get the win. Roth was the third Gustie to be pushed to three sets, defeating LeFebvre 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8) at No. 5 singles.
Gustavus Adolphus 7, St. Olaf 2 – Box Score
Part of coach Steve Wilkinson’s team remained in St. Peter for a 9 a.m. match against St. Olaf. The Oles held a 2-1 lead after taking two of three doubles matches. Gustavus’ Mike Burdakin (So., Bettendorf, Iowa) and Charlie Paukert (So., Grand Forks, N.D.) defeated Nick Crnkovic and Ian Pray 8-3 at the No. 1 spot, but St. Olaf picked up wins at both the No. 2 and No. 3 positions as Brian Tolly and Patrick Curran topped Ashok Jethwa (So., Minot, N.D.) and Claudio Bravo (Sr., Tucson, Ariz./Rincon) 8-6 and David Narvaez and Drew Erie downed Brian Laumeyer (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.) and Chad Olson (Jr., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) 8-5. St. Olaf is the first Division III opponent this season to take at least two doubles matches from the Gusties. Division I Hawai’i and Division II schools BYU-Hawai’i and Hawai’i-Hilo also accomplished the feat during Gustavus’ season-opening trip to Hawai’i.
The Gusties took control of the match during singles play, dropping only one set. Burdakin defeated Pray 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles, Paukert downed Tolly 6-0, 6-1 at the No. 2 spot, Bravo topped Erie 6-3, 6-0 at the No. 3 position. Ashok Jethwa needed three sets but picked up a 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6) win over Narvaez at the No. 4 spot, while Laumeyer downed Curran 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles. Krishan Jethwa (Fr., Minot, N.D.) closed out the dual with 7-6 (7-1), 6-1 win over Crnkovic at the No. 6 position.
Gustavus Adolphus 9, Saint John’s 0 – Box Score
Gustavus swept Saint John’s 9-0 in its final dual of the day. The Gusties opened with wins in all three doubles matches as Andy Bryan (Jr., Edina, Minn.) and Jesse Brauer (Sr., Mankato, Minn./West) topped Trevor Beach and Dan Ruehl 8-1 at No. 1 doubles, Ben Tomasek (So., Oakdale, Minn./North St. Paul) and Nick Hansen (So., Duluth, Minn./East) teamed for an 8-1 win over Ted Lauer and Kevin Goihl at No. 2 doubles, and Chad Olson and David Koppel (So., Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) picked up an 8-3 win over Luke Odegaard and Dutch Hansen at No. 3 doubles.
Bryan added a 6-0, 6-2 win over Beach at No. 1 singles, while Brauer topped Lauer 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2 singles. Olson swept Neil Koehler 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 3 spot and Tomasek bested Mark Steelman 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 4 position. Hansen posted a 6-4, 6-1 win over Odegaard at No. 5, while Koppel closed out the dual with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Eric Holmgren at the No. 6 spot.
The Gusties, rated fourth nationally, face Division I Drake University Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa, before hosting University of Nebraska-Kearney, St. Cloud State University, and MIAC foe Saint Mary’s March 17.