The Gustavus women’s tennis team moved into the title match of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Tennis Championship Saturday morning with a 5-0 win over fourth-seed St. Thomas. The Gusties swept all three doubles matches and picked up singles wins by Tara Houlihan (No. 1 spot) and Jaime Gaard (No. 4 spot) to close out the match.
The doubles tandems of Houlihan (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Lyndsey Palen (Sr., Rochester, Minn.) and Lauren Hom (Jr., Stevens Point, Wis.) and Marla Menne (Sr., White Bear Lake, Minn.) recorded 8-1 victories at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, respectively, while the team of Jenni White (So., Cedar Rapids, Iowa) and Darcy Haubrick (Jr., Elk River, Minn.) prevailed 8-5 at No. 3 doubles.
Houlihan and Gaard made quick work of their singles opponents. Houlihan downed Cortney Dirks 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1 singles, while Gaard defeated Nickey Nichols 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4 singles. Menne was closing in on another singles win at the No. 5 spot when the match was stopped. She was leading Katie Flor 6-1, 3-1 when the match was stopped.
Gustavus (26-4) will face the third-seed Carleton at approximately 2:30 p.m. for the title at the Swanson Tennis Center. Carleton defeated Saint Benedict, 5-3, in the other semifinal.