The Gustavus men’s tennis team saw its string of three consecutive MIAC Playoff Championships end with a 6-3 loss to Carleton at the Brown Outdoor Courts at Gustavus on Saturday. The Knights jumped out to a 2-1 lead in doubles and never looked back on their way to the playoff title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The loss was the first ever suffered by the Gusties since the MIAC adopted a playoff format in 2007.
In doubles action, Gustavus picked up one point as Pat Clark and Kyle Olson rallied to defeat Paul Cooper and Peter Dunn at the #2 position by the score of 9-8 (7-4 in the tiebreaker). The Knights claimed wins at #1 where Winston Park and Dan Vollman defeated Amrik Donkena and Tyler Johnson 8-4 and at #3 where Austin Jiang and Colin Russell defeated Daniel Pomeranc and Brooks Stapleton 8-2.
In singles play, closed out the match by winning the #3, #6, and #5 positions to pick up the five points necessary for the victory. Jiang defeated Johnson 6-2, 6-2 at #3 to make the score 3-1, followed by Paul Cooper claiming a very tight 7-5, 6-4 decision at #6 to extend the lead to 4-1, and then Alexander Chin knocked off Krishan Jethwa 7-5, 6-3 for the decisive fifth point.
Gustavus claimed two of the final three matches to make the final score 6-3. Patrick Clark rallied to defeat Winston Park 0-6, 7-5, 6-2 at the #2 position to cut the lead to 5-2 and then Colin Russell outlasted Daniel Pomeranc 7-5, 7-5 at the #4 position to make the score 6-2. Amrik Donkena defeated Peter Dunn 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 at the #1 position to make the final score 6-3.