MADISON, Wis. – The Gustavus women’s tennis team suffered a 5-2 loss to No. 23 Denison before defeating Carthage 5-1 on Saturday evening at the Nielsen Tennis Center at the University of Wisconsin. With their second split in as many days, the Gusties are now 12-6 overall heading into their heavy conference schedule that begins next weekend.
Gustavus began its day with a tough test against 23rd-ranked Denison. After falling behind 4-0 from losses at No. 1, 2, 3, and 6 singles, Ally Baker (So., Rosemount, Minn.) and Briana Hartmann (Fy., Owatonna, Minn.) pulled out singles wins at the No. 4 and 5 spots, respectively. The match then moved to doubles, where the Big Red clinched the play-to-decision format with a victory at No. 1 doubles.
Later in the evening, the Gusties took two-of-three doubles matches from Carthage to begin, before Michaela Schulz (Jr., Elk River, Minn.), Sid Dirks (Sr., St. Peter, Minn.) and Baker clinched three singles matches at the 1, 3, and 4 spots, respectively in order to defeat the Lady Reds.
Gustavus is back in action next Saturday with an MIAC doubleheader in St. Paul. The Gusties face Macalester at 11 a.m. before taking on St. Kate’s at 4 p.m.