The Gustavus men’s tennis team upset #1 California-Santa Cruz 6-1 to win the ITA Division III Indoor Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Swanson Tennis Center in St. Peter, Minn. The Gusties, who were seeded third in the tournament and fourth nationally, claimed their third ITA Indoor Title in the six year history of the tournament.
The championship match began with Gustavus claiming the doubles point. Andy Bryan and Roy Bryan defeated Ilya Gendelman and Max Ortiz 8-4 at the #2 position and Loren Collins and Jesse Brauer defeated Jared Kamel and Alexander Villalobos 8-2 at the #3 position. The match at #1 singles (which was decided after Gustavus had already claimed the doubles point) was between two of the top doubles teams in Division III. Matt Seeberger and Shane Templeman of UC-Santa Cruz defeated Adam Morgan and Brett Morse-Karzen 9-8 (7-5 in the tiebreaker).
Gustavus jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Adam Morgan defeated Shane Templeman 6-7, 7-6 (5) at #2 singles. UC-Santa Cruz cut the lead to 2-1 when Jared Kamel defeated Jesse Brauer 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at the #3 position. The Gusties extended their lead to 3-1 when Loren Collins upset UC-Santa Cruz’s Matt Seeberger 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 at the #1 position. Seeberger is the two-time defending NCAA singles champion. Gustavus picked up the fourth point needed for victory when Andy Bryan defeated Colin Mark-Griffin 7-5, 6-2. The Gusties picked up two more singles victories as Roy Bryan defeated Donny Divianan 6-4, 6-4 at the #5 position and Brett Morse-Karzen defeated Alexander Villalobos 6-4, 6-4 at the #6 position.
Gustavus has now won three ITA Indoor titles, finished second once and third twice in the six-year history of the Division III ITA Indoor Championship.
The Gusties defeated #6 seed Pacific Lutheran 7-0 in the quarterfinals, before upsetting #2 seed and defending champion Emory 6-1 in the semifinals, and top-seeded UC-Santa Cruz 6-1 in the finals. Gustavus improves to 10-2 on the season.