The Gustavus women’s tennis team opened its 2003 fall season at the three-day 1st Annual Gopher Invitational on Friday in Minneapolis. The nine-team flighted tournament, which runs through Sunday is being held at the Baseline Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota.
Gustavus sent four doubles teams and eight singles players to the Invitational, which consists of seven NCAA Division I schools (Denver, Drake, Iowa State, Illinois-Chicago, Minnesota, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Wisconsin-Milwaukee), one Division II school (North Dakota), and one Division III school (Gustavus). Gustie athletes posted two wins in doubles play and six victories in singles competition.
The doubles teams of Jamie Gaard/Kara Smiley and Darcy Hawbrick/Marla Menne played in the top doubles flight and both duos dropped their first matches. Gaard/Smiley were defeated 8-6 in the first round and will play Saturday morning at 9:00 in the consolation bracket. Hawbrick and Menne received a first round bye and were defeated in the second round 8-1. They will also play Saturday morning at 9:00 in the consolation bracket.
The other doubles flight featured the tandems of Lyndsey Palen/Elissa Bashleben and Mikaela Schmitt/Lauren Hom. Palen/Bashleben dropped their first match 8-3 but rebounded to win a consolation match 8-1. Schmitt/Hom lost their first match 8-2 and also bounced back for a 8-0 consolation round victory. Both duos continue consolation play on Saturday morning at 9:00.
In the first of four singles flights, Jaime Gaard recorded a first round victory. She will resume play in the winner’s bracket on Saturday morning at 10:30. Lauren Hom lost her first match in the same flight and will begin a consolation match on Saturday at noon.
In the second singles flight, Lyndsey Palen picked up a first round win. Her next match is on Saturday morning at 10:30. Marla Menne dropped her first match in the same flight and will participate in a consolation match on Saturday afternoon at 1:00.
A pair of Gusties recorded victories in the third singles flight. Both Mikaela Schmitt and Kara Smiley registered first round victories and will play quarterfinal matches on Saturday morning at 10:30.
Darcy Hawbrick and Hannah Frericks both tallied opening-day victories in the fourth singles flight, which features only nine players (the rest of the flights have 16 players). Hawbrick and Frericks will both play semi-final matches on opposite sides of the bracket on Saturday at noon.