Whitewater, Wis. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s tennis team saw its 2015 season come to an end with a 5-2 loss to the University of Chicago in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon at the Wangerin Courts. Although Gustavus took two of the three doubles points, Chicago proved too strong in singles. The Gusties conclude their season with an overall record of 20-11, while the Maroons move on to the next round of the NCAA Tournament at 18-5.
As has been their modus operandi all season long, the Gusties used a strong start in doubles to take an early lead. With wins at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles positions, Gustavus took a 2-1 advantage into singles play. Motasem Al-Houni (Sr, Tripoli, Libya) and Andres Saenz (So., Cancun, Mexico) defeated Ankur Bhargava and Deepak Sabada 8-6 at the top spot, and Brad Entwistle (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Mohanad Al-Houni (Fr., Tripoli, Libya) edged Max Hawkins and Luke Tsai 9-7 at No. 2. Chicago avoided the doubles sweep thanks to a victory by David Liu and Nicolas Chua who beat Mitch Elofson (Jr., St. Peter, Minn.) and T. Connor Shives (Fr., Rochester, Minn.) 8-6 at No. 3.
Despite the early deficit, Chicago flexed its chops in singles with straight set wins by Chua over Mohanad Al-Houni 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1, Sven Kranz over Motasem Al-Houni 6-0, 6-4 at No. 2, Peter Leung over Entwistle 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4, and Tsai over Elofson 6-3, 6-0 at No. 5.