The Gustavus men’s tennis team advanced to the championship match of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) Division III Indoor Championship with a 6-3 win over #2 Emory on Saturday afternoon. The Gusties, who are the #3 seed, will face #1 UC-Santa Cruz in the title match on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 9:00 am. UC-Santa Cruz defeated #5 Washington University (St. Louis, Mo.) 5-1 in the other semifinal match. The tournament is being played at the Swanson Tennis Center on the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College.
On Saturday, Gustavus jumped out to a 3-0 lead after doubles play and then posted three wins in singles play to claim the 6-3 victory over Emory University (Atlanta, Ga.). All three doubles matches were tightly contested. Andy Bryan and Charlie Paukert of Gustavus defeated Michael Goodwin and Colin Egan of Emory, 8-3 at the #1 position and then the Gusties #2 tandem of John Kauss and Mike Burdakin defeated Hardy Ehlers and David Caplan, 9-7. Gustavus wrapped up the doubles sweep with Ben Tomasek and Nick Hansen defeating Chris Redmond and Mark Boren, 8-6.
Leading 3-0, Gustavus wrapped up the match with wins at #1 and #2 singles as Andy Bryan defeated Michael Goodwin 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 at #1 and then John Kauss defeated Mark Boren 6-3, 6-4 at #2. With the match decided at 5-0, Emory fought back to win three of the final four matches to make the final score 6-3. Gustavus’ Aaron Zenner claimed the final singles win as he defeated Chris Jordan 6-4, 6-1 at the #6 position.