Tuesday, 04/28/2009

The Gustavus men's tennis team completed their regular season on Saturday in St. Paul with conference victories over St. Thomas and Macalester.  The wins completed an undefeated season in MIAC play and guaranteed the Gusties another conference championship.  This is their 21st consecutive title and the 37th in the last forty years.  Since 1970 Gustavus has lost only one conference dual match- to St. Thomas in 1985.

The match against St. Thomas on Saturday proved to be closer than anyone expected.  With the score tied at 3-3, the outcome of the last three matches was still in doubt.  Freshman Pat Clark responded with a convincing victory.  Next senior Ashok Jethwa played an outstanding super breaker to clinch the team match.  Finally senior Ben Tomasek recovered from deficits in both sets to bring the final team score to 6-3.   Immediately afterwards different Gusties played a strong Macalester team, but there was no doubt about the outcome.  Gustavus raced to a convincing 9-0 victory and upped their season record to 23-8.

This coming weekend Gustavus will host the MIAC playoffs for both the men and the women.  Six teams qualify with quarterfinal action beginning on Friday at noon for the men and at 3 p.m. for the women.  The top seeded Gustavus men will play first on Saturday at 9 a.m. against the lowest seeded team reaching the semifinals.  The finals will be at 2 p.m. on Saturday.  The winner receives an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA III national tournament that begins the following Friday.  Regional sites and pairings will be announced on Monday, May 4.

GUSTAVUS     6      ST. THOMAS      3       St. Paul, MN, April 24, 2009
1) Charlie Paukert/Ben Tomasek (GA) def. Phil Hanke/Kevin Walker (UST) 8-2
2) John Kauss/Eric Ice (GA) def. Andy Michels/Matt Bergstrom (UST) 8-4
3)Dan Cooper/Drew Carlson (UST)  def. Daniel Pomeranc/Brooks Stapleton (GA) 8-4

1)Charlie Paukert (GA) def. Phil Hanke (UST) 6-0, 6-0
2) Ben Tomasek (GA) def. Andy Michels (UST) 7-5, 7-6 (1)
3) Pat Clark (GA) def. Matt Bergstrom (UST) 6-0, 6-0
4) Ashok Jethwa (GA) def. Kevin Walker (UST) 6-7 (4), 6-1, (10-5)
5) Dan Cooper (UST) def. Daniel Pomeranc (GA) 2-6, 6-4 (10-6)
6) Drew Carlson (UST) def. Krishan Jethwa (GA) 6-2, 6-2
  Exhibition: Josh Knutson (GA) def. Jake Stickney (UST) 8-5

GUSTAVUS    9 MACALESTER      0       St. Paul, MN, April 24, 2009
1) Kevin Stickney/Nick Hansen (GA) def. Charlie Edelman/Mike Coleman (M) 8-3
2) John Kauss/Eric Ice (GA) def. Chris Fowler/Ali Bandeali (M) 8-3
3) Pat Clark/Dave Koppel (GA) def. Evan Elderbrock/Titus Levy (M) 8-1

1) John Kauss (GA) def. Charlie Edelman (M) 6-1, 6-0
2) Charlie Paukert (GA) def. Mike Coleman (M) 6-0, 6-1
3) Ben Tomasek (GA) def. Chris Fowler (M) 6-4, 6-1
4) Nick Hansen (GA) def. Ali Bandeali (M) 6-2, 6-1
5) Dave Koppel (GA) def. Evan Elderbrock (M) 6-4, 6-0
6) Ashok Jethwa (GA) def. Titus Levy (M) 6-0, 6-1