Claremont, Calif. – In the Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis team’s second outing of its southern California spring training trip, the Gusties suffered a tightly-contested 5-4 loss to No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges on Friday afternoon at the Pauley Tennis Complex. The Saghens took two doubles points before picking up the three wins it needed in singles to seal the victory. Gustavus drops to 11-7 with the loss, while Pomona-Pitzer improves to 20-3 with the win.
In doubles, the home team earned wins at the No. 2 and 3 positions thanks to 8-6 and 8-3 victories, respectively. Gustavus’s doubles point came from an 8-4 win by Motasem Al-Houni (Sr., Tripoli, Libya) and Andres Saenz (So., Cancun, Mexico) over Connor Hudson and Kalyan Chadalavada at No. 1.
In singles play, the Saghens went up 4-1 thanks to wins by Jon Kim over Saenz 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 and Anthony Bello over Mitch Elofson (Jr., St. Peter, Minn.) 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5.
Gustavus bounced back with two quick victories in succession to cut the lead to 4-3. Zach Ekstein (Fr., Eagan, Minn.) defeated Thomas Low 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6, and Brad Entwistle (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) topped Graham Maassen 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4.
Pomona-Pitzer survived the scare with a match-clinching win at No. 2 when Jake Yasgoor defeated Motasem Al-Houni 6-2, 7-5. Gustavus got its fourth point from Mohanad Al-Houni (Fr., Tripoli, Libya) who beat Hudson 7-6 (6), 5-7, 10-5 at No. 1.
The Gustavus men’s tennis team will conclude its California trip with a match against the No. 1 team in the nation, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center.