MADISON, WIS. – After almost two weeks off from competition, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s tennis team returned to the court on Friday, taking on two of the top teams in the region in the first two rounds of the Midwest Invitational at the Nielsen Tennis Center. Gustavus defeated Kenyon College 7-2 in the first round and fell to No. 14 DePauw University in the second, to bring its overall record to 8-10 on the season.
“I’m incredibly proud of how we competed today,” said head coach Jon Carlson. “We’ve had a very good last two weeks of practice and the team implemented just about all of the things we’ve worked so hard on.”
Gustavus began its tournament by taking on Kenyon, which is currently ranked No. 12 in the Midwest Region, one place behind the Gusties who are ranked No. 11. The Gusties started the match by sweeping all three doubles matches, a feat Carlson said was ‘monumental.’
“Our doubles play against Kenyon was outstanding,” said Carlson. “One of those things we’ve worked on so hard has been doubles strategy and all of our women put that practice into action today. It was a lot of fun to see how far they’ve come, even in just the last week.”
Following doubles play, Gustavus maintained control of the match by earning victories in four of six singles matches. First-years Katie Aney (Rochester, Minn.) and Ally Baker (Rosemount, Minn.) had two of the most notable singles wins for the Gusties, as Aney picked up the most convincing victory of the day at No. 5 singles in 6-1, 6-0 fashion, while Baker earned a come-from-behind win at the No. 6 postion with a final score of 6-7 (2), 6-0, (10-5).
“I’m continually impressed with how quickly our first-years have matured,” said Carlson. “They’ve made leaps and bounds since the start of the season and its exciting to keep watching their progress.”
Later in the day, Gustavus took on DePauw University, ranked No. 14 in the nation. Despite solid play, Gustavus was not able to duplicate its earlier results in doubles or singles, and fell to the Tigers by a final score of 8-1. Sidney Dirks (Jr., St. Peter, Minn.) picked put the Gusties’ lone win at No. 4 singles in a marathon match in which Dirks finally closed out 14-12 in a third set super tiebreaker.
“Credit has to be given to DePauw,” said Carlson. “They took advantage of our slightest miscues and in general, are just a very, very good team. I don’t think we are as far off from them as the score may have indicated, but they played very well.”
Gustavus will be back in tournament action early Saturday morning when it takes on the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, ranked No. 29 in the nation, at 7:45 a.m. at the Cherokee Country Club.