Jesse Brauer
Andy Bryan
Gustavus Adolphus College men’s tennis players Jesse Brauer (Sr., Mankato, Minn./West) and Andy Bryan (Jr., Edina, Minn.) saw their seasons come to an end after losses in both singles and doubles at the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships in St. Louis, Mo. Each lost quarterfinal singles matches Saturday morning and then the tandem dropped a three-set doubles match Saturday afternoon.
In quarterfinal round singles play, Brauer fell to Bryan Pybas of UC-Santa Cruz in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, while Bryan was ousted from the singles draw in three sets by DePauw’s Evan Webeler. Bryan took the first set, but Webeler closed out the match with wins in the second and third sets 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Webeler and Pybas were each straight-set losers in the semifinals, setting up a Sunday final between Matt Seeberger of UC-Santa Cruz and John Watts of Washington University in St. Louis. Seeberger, a senior, won both the singles and doubles titles as a freshman and a sophomore.
Pybas seemed to have the Gusties’ number Saturday as he and Max Liberty-Point paired to bring an end to Bryan and Brauer’s doubles season. Pybas and Liberty-Point captured the first set 6-4, but the Gustie tandem responded with a 6-1 win in the second set. The third and final set went to a tie-breaker as the Banana Slug duo emerged with a 7-6 win.
Pybas and Liberty-Point will face Michael Goodwin of Emory in one semifinal, while Seeberger and Max Ortiz (UC-Santa Cruz), will face Kevin Bergesen and Andrew Thompson of Middlebury in the other semifinal Sunday morning with the final following shortly afterward.