The Gustavus men’s tennis team suffered its second straight loss after falling to the University of Redlands 7-2 in Claremont, Calif. on Wednesday. The Gusties lost two extremely tight doubles matches as they trailed 3-0 heading into singles play before losing four of six singles matches. Gustavus, which is 17-6 overall, will wrap up their Spring Break trip against UC-Santa Cruz on Thursday afternoon in Santa Cruz, Calif.
The doubles matches at the #1 and #2 positions were tightly contested as both matches required tiebreakers. However, the Gusties came up short in each match as Mike Reading and Cameron Spearman defeated John Kauss and Mike Burdakin 9-8 (7-2) at #1 and Jeff Hammond and Keven Wong defeated Charlie Paukert and Ben Tomasek 9-8 (7-3). Redlands completed a sweep of the doubles points when Nick Hansen and David Koppel lost to Chris Trippel and Casey Fashouer 8-5.
Gustavus tallied both of its points in the match at #1 and #3 singles. John Kauss defeated Cameron Spearman in straight sets at the #1 position 6-3, 6-1. Mike Burdakin won the first set 6-2 against Matt Liebman before dropping the second set 6-4. Burdakin earned the point after winning the third set 6-2 at the #3 spot. In the closest singles match of the day, Charlie Paukert won the first set over Mike Reading 7-6 after winning the tiebreaker 7-4 at #2 singles. Reading prevailed in the second set with an identical score before going on to win a third set super tiebreaker 10-5. Redlands earned its remaining points at #4, #5, and #6 singles with straight set wins.
Match Results
Doubles
#1 – Mike Reading/Cameron Spearman (RED) defeated John Kauss/Mike Burdakin (GA) 9-8 (7-2)
#2 – Jeff Hammond/Keven Wong (RED) defeated Charlie Paukert/Ben Tomasek (GA) 9-8 (7-3)
#3 – Chris Trippel/Casey Fashouer (RED) defeated Nick Hansen/David Koppel (GA) 8-5
Singles
#1 – John Kauss (GA) defeated Cameron Spearman (RED) 6-3, 6-1
#2 – Mike Reading (RED) defeated Charlie Paukert (GA) 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4), 1-0 (10-5)
#3 – Mike Burdakin (GA) defeated Matt Liebman (RED) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2
#4 – Chris Trippel (RED) defeated Ben Tomasek (GA) 6-4, 6-4
#5 – Aron Ouye (RED) defeated Patrick Clark (GA) 6-2, 6-3
#6 – Jeff Hammond (RED) defeated Ryan Hallsten (GA) 6-2, 6-0