Photo Courtesy of Zach Pohlmann - ITA Championships
Written by David Youngs
Cleveland, OHIO – Finishing a weekend with the nation’s best, the Gusties dropped a 5-0 contest to defending national champion Emory on Sunday morning.
The final score didn’t do justice for the competitive match that the Gusties played against one of the NCAA’s finest programs. Gustavus was on the verge of winning at No. 5 singles and was in tight matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles before the matches were pulled.
Gustavus’ top doubles team of Nick Aney (Sr., Rochester and Alex Budde (Jr., Menomonee Falls, Wis.) played their third tight match of the weekend, falling just short in a tiebreaker.
“We had good energy in the doubles and we had match points at No. 1 doubles,” Head Coach Tommy Valentini said. “Nick and Alex played great but just got a bit unlucky down the stretch.”
Close matches were the story of the day in singles. Budde dropped a tight singles match at No. 4 singles while Indraneel Raut (Sr., Oshkosh Wis.) and Aney were both locked in tight matches at the top two singles spots.
First-year Marco Siviero (Fy., Sao Miguel de Oeste, Brazil) was moments from winning his match at No. 5 singles before the match was called, leading 6-2, 5-2. Siverio had a match point when the meet was pulled.
The loss drops the Gusties to 5-4 (2-0 MIAC) on the young season. All four of Gustavus’ losses have come to nationally-ranked teams and a division one opponent.
Coaches Corner
After facing some of the nation’s top teams this weekend, Tommy Valentini is impressed with how the Gusties competed at ITA Indoor National Championships.
The guys competed beautifully again today,” Valentini said. “We made more good progress today as a team. We’ll take a lot of positive things from the weekend at Indoors and certainly look to build on them moving forward.”
What’s Next
Gustavus will face off against Wisconsin-Whitewater next weekend in one of their most highly anticipated matches of the year. The two regional and national powerhouses will square up next Saturday at 10:00 a.m. at Swanson Tennis Center in Saint Peter. The Warhawks are 10-0 so far this season and Saturday will be the first time that the Midwest heavyweights have met up since 2019. Gustavus won that matchup 8-1.