The Gustavus men’s tennis team had the University of Chicago, which is ranked #3 in the Central Region, on the ropes in Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon, but the Maroons rallied to claim third set wins at both #1 and #4 singles to hold on to defeat Gustavus, which is ranked #9 in the Central Region, by the score of 6-3. The Gusties fall to 5-3, while Chicago improves to 7-2.
Gustavus jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles play as Amrik Donkena and Pat Clark defeated Jan Stefanski and Zsolt Szabo 8-6 at the #1 position and Daniel Pomeranc and Juan Luis Chu defeated Will Zhang and Krishna Ravella 9-8 (7-5 in the tiebreaker).
In singles play, Chicago rallied to win five of the six matches to pull out a 6-3 victory over the Gusties. It looked like the Gustavus was going to even the match at 3-3 when Will Zhang took a couple of match points away from Amrik Donkena to win the match in a third set tiebreaker 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (8-6 in the tiebreaker). As a result, the Maroons extended their lead to 4-2 with three matches to play. At #4 singles, Juan Luis Chu won the first set 7-5 and lost the second set 5-7, and led the third set before dropping the decisive final set by the score of 4-6. The two clutch third set wins for Chicago proved to be the difference in the match.
Gustavus will stay in Milwaukee and play DePauw University on Sunday morning at 10 am.
Singles
1. Will Zhang (Chicago) defeated Amrik Donkena (Gustavus) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6
2. Patrick Clark (Gustavus) defeated Zsolt Zabo (Chicago) 6-0 6-1
3. Troy Brinker (Chicago) defeated Tyler Johnson (Gustavus) 6-1, 6-3
4. Alex Golovin (Chicago) defeated Juan Luis Chu (Gustavus) 5-7, 7-5, 6-4
5. Jan Stefanski (Chicago) defeated Marcel Gyswyt (Gustavus) 6-0, 6-4
6. Kuwal Pawa (Chicago) defeated Jan Stefanski (Gustavus) 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
1. Donkena/Clark (Gustavus) defeated Stefanski/Szabo (Chicago) 8-6
2. Joel Brinker/Neil Karandika (Chicago) defeated Tyler Johnson/Joe MacGibbon (Gustavus) 8-4
3. Pomeranc/Chu (Gustavus) defeated Zhang/Krishna Ravella (Chicago) 9-8 (7-5 in the tiebreaker).