The Gustavus men’s tennis closed out its 2011 regular season with a convincing 9-0 win at Macalester on Saturday evening and another impressive 8-1 win at Luther on Sunday evening. The win over the Scots clinched the outright MIAC regular season title for the Gusties, their 26th consecutive title, while the win over Luther gave the team an important regional win over the Norse. Gustavus, which improves to 16-8 overall and 9-0 in league play, will get ready for the MIAC Playoffs, where it will host and be the #1 seed next weekend.
Against Macalester, Coach Tommy Valentini’s squad got off to a quick start winning all three doubles matches in convincing fashion including an 8-0 win by Joe MacGibbon and Tyler Johnson at the #2 position. The Gusties continued to roll in singles play winning all six matches in straight sets. MacGibbon continued his fine play with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Max Soghikian at the #5 position and his doubles partner Johnson was impressive as well with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Max Edwards at the #3 position. The win allowed the Gusties to register their 26th consecutive unbeaten regular season and extend their league regular season unbeaten streak to 241 matches.
Against Luther, Gustavus was looking to avenge a 5-4 loss to the Norse at the end of the 2010 season and it didn’t take long for the Gusties to take control of the match. At #1 doubles, Amrik Donkena and Patrick Clark, who entered the match ranked #5 in the Central Region doubles rankings defeated #9 Scott Sundstrom and Ramesh Karki 8-2. Gustavus would win the #2 (8-1) and #3 (8-3) doubles matches in convincing fashion and led 3-0 after doubles play.
The Gusties continued their fine play in singles winning five of the six matches in straight sets. Donkena set the pace again as he Scott Sundstrom at the #1 position 7-5, 7-5. Donkena entered the match ranked #11 regionally, while Sundstrom was ranked #4. Patrick Clark won at #2, Tyler Johnson at #4, Marcel Gyswyt at #5, and Joey MacGibbon at #6. The lone setback was at the #3 position where Juan Luis Chu lost to Ramesh Karki 5-7, 3-6.
Gustavus finished the regular season with a record of 11-3 against Central Region competition and the Gusties are ranked #8 in the most recent ITA Central Region rankings.