Release Courtesy of Matt Higgins – MIAC Assistant Executive Director
The Gustavus men’s tennis team embarked on a challenging road trip to the Boston area last week, with three matches against nationally-ranked opponents. The Gusties came away with a 2-2 record, and got outstanding play from junior Motasam Al-Houni (Tripoli, Libya/International School). In the four matches, Al-Houni went 3-1 in singles play and also 3-1 in the Gusties’ top doubles spot to help his team perform admirably against top-notch foes. For his performance, Al-Houni was named the MIAC Men’s Tennis Athlete-of-the-Week for the second time this season.
Al-Houni helped Gustavus score an 8-1 win over No. 28 MIT last Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-0, win at No. 5 singles and a thrilling 9-8 victory at No. 1 doubles. He also scored a 6-2, 6-3, No. 5 doubles win and an 8-2 doubles victory in a 5-4 win over Tufts Wednesday. Friday, Gustavus narrowly lost to No. 10-ranked Middlebury, 5-4, with Al-Houni winning a thriller at No. 5 singles (3-6, 7-6, 10-8) and also earning a victory at No. 1 doubles (8-6). His only two losses of the week came against No. 4 Amherst Saturday in the final match of the trip. This season, Al-Houni is 15-4 in singles play and 16-6 in doubles play.
After the trip out East, Gustavus stands at 21-5 overall this season and is a perfect 6-0 atop the MIAC standings as it attempts to win its 26th-straight conference championship. Al-Houni and his teammates have another busy weekend on the horizon as they’ll take on DePauw Friday in Milwaukee and Kalamazoo Sunday in Pleasant Valley, Wis. The team will also head to Winona to face Saint Mary’s in a MIAC match Sunday at 3:30 p.m.