The Gustavus Adolphus College men’s tennis team posted a trio of wins Saturday to improve to 21-8 overall. Gustavus defeated Wartburg and Carleton by 9-0 scores and Luther by an 8-1 margin. The win over Carleton completed an undefeated MIAC season for the Gusties.
Gustavus Adolphus 9, Wartburg 0 – Box Score
The Gusties opened the day by sweeping Wartburg 9-0 at the Brown Outdoor Tennis Complex in St. Peter. Aaron Zenner (Jr., St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) and Griffin Foley (Jr., White Bear Lake, Minn./Mahtomedi) picked up a 9-7 win over Mitch Eslick and Tom Koenen at No. 1 doubles, Chad Olson (Jr., Shoreview, Minn./Mounds View) and David Koppel (So., Gahanna, Ohio/Lincoln) teamed for an 8-4 victory over Tylor Schlader and Pat Mullen at No. 2 doubles, and Alex Horton (Newport, Wales, U.K./Winnetka [Ill.] New Trier) and Matt Toppin (Jr., Hastings, Minn.) downed Abhi Nadipuran and Andrew Kahler 8-3 at No. 3 doubles.
In singles play, Olson and Zenner were pushed to third sets by their Wartburg opponents in the top two singles positions. Olson topped Eslick 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6) at No. 1 singles, and Zenner defeated Schlader 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-7). Koppel added a 6-4, 6-4 win over Koenen, while Foley and Horton picked up 6-0, 6-0 victories at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively. Toppin dropped only one game en route to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Nadipuran at No. 6 singles to close out the match.
Gustavus Adolphus 9, Carleton 0 – Box Score
Next on the Gusties’ schedule was a mid-afternoon dual with Carleton to wrap up their MIAC dual schedule. Gustavus took all three doubles matches, but were pushed at both No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. Andy Bryan (Jr., Edina, Minn.) and Jesse Brauer (Sr., Mankato, Minn./West) picked up an 8-6 win over Brendan Cooper and Julian Tokarev at the No. 1 spot, while Ben Tomasek (So., Oakdale, Minn./North St. Paul) and Nick Hansen (So., Duluth, Minn./East) needed a tie-breaker to defeated Peter Varnum and Kartheek Koneru 9-8 (7-5) at No. 3. Mike Burdakin (So., Bettendorf, Iowa) and Charlie Paukert (So., Grand Forks, N.D.) cruised to an 8-1 win over Winston Park and Colin Russell at No. 2.
Bryan and Brauer picked up wins at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively, by matching 6-3, 6-0 scores. Bryan toppled Park, while Brauer downed Koneru. Burdakin defeated Cooper 6-0, 6-4 at No. 4 and Paukert beat Varnum 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5, while Danny Suchy (Sr., La Crosse, Wis./Central) bested Tokarev 6-2, 6-4 at No. 6. John Kauss (So., St. Paul, Minn./Harding) needed three sets but emerged with a 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 1-0 (10-6) win over Russell at the No. 3 position.
The victory was Gustavus’ 205th consecutive regular season MIAC dual victory and gave the Gusties an undefeated mark in league play for the 19th straight year. The Knights were handed only their second dual loss of the year, falling to 15-2.
Gustavus Adolphus 8, Luther 1 (at Rochester) – Box Score
Gustavus closed out its day with a 8-1 win over Luther College in Rochester, Minn. The Norse were rated 12th by the ITA in the organization’s most recent Central Region rankings.
The Gusties emerged from doubles play with a hard-fought 3-0 lead. Bryan and Brauer defeated Max Busch and Jono Martin 8-6 at No.1 doubles, Paukert and Burdakin topped Andrew Dyrdal and Brad Nelson 8-5 at No. 2, and Tomasek and Hansen downed Derek Hoffman and Thomas Orser 8-6 at No. 3.
Gustavus took five of six singles matches with varying amounts of ease. Brauer defeated Martin 6-1, 6-1 at No. 2 singles and Paukert downed Jared Wiklund 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5, but Bryan and Burdakin would need to rally to win in three sets after each dropped the first set. Bryan downed Busch 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-2) at No. 1, while Burdakin beat Orser 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-6) at No. 4. Kauss also added a 6-3, 7-5 win over Dyrdal at No. 3. The Norse (23-4) picked up their point at No. 6 singles where Nelson topped Danny Suchy 3-6, 7-6, 1-0 (10-8).
Gustavus will close out its regular-season dual schedule Sunday, April 22, with a match in Milwaukee, Wis., against Kalamazoo (Mich.). Kalamazoo, 11-9 through April 15, is rated 13th nationally and fourth in the Central Region in the ITA’s most recent (March 15) poll. The Gusties have also secured the top seed for the 2007 MIAC Men’s Tennis Tournament which will be held in St. Peter April 27-28.