The Gustavus men’s tennis team advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament with a hard-fought 5-1 win over Luther College at the Swanson Tennis on the Gustavus campus on Saturday afternoon.
The Gusties claimed two of the three doubles matches and began singles play with a 2-1 lead. Surprisingly, Gustavus’ #1 doubles team of Andy Bryan and Charlie Paukert suffered only their fourth loss against a Division III opponent this season falling to Max Busch and Jono Martin 9-8 (10-8 in the tiebreaker). However, Gustavus claimed two important doubles points as John Kauss and Mike Burdakin won 8-5 at the #2 position and Ben Tomasek and Nick Hansen won 8-5 at the #3 position.
In singles play, the Gusties claimed three convincing straight set victories to clinch the match. Andy Bryan defeated Max Busch 6-2, 6-1 at the #1 position, while John Kauss defeated Jono Martin 6-1, 6-3 at the #2 position, and Charlie Paukert defeated Utsab Rijal 6-1, 6-2 at the #4 position.
The Gusties will now face the University of Texas at Tyler in a third round match on Sunday at 12:00 pm at the Brown Outdoor Courts. The weather gives hope that the match can be played outside unlike the one women’s match and two men’s matches on Saturday.