Monday, 10/29/2012

MORAGA, Calif. -- The Saint Mary's men's tennis team continued to defend its home court as all three Gaels remaining in the main singles draw made it to the round of 16 at the Intercollegiate Northwest Regional at Saint Mary's.

The fearsome threesome of Jesse Kiuru, Tuomas Manner and Joakim Norstrom was again a winning one for Saint Mary's, with each player winning one match Saturday to advance to Sunday's third day of competition.

Kiuru, seeded No. 13, punched his ticket with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Stanford's Maciek Romanowicz. The junior got the victory away from home, scoring the win at Moraga Country Club.

Back at Saint Mary's, Manner and Norstrom took care of business. Seeded No. 17, Manner avenged an earlier loss this season by beating No. 12 Jamin Ball of Stanford 6-3, 6-4.

Norstrom was the last Gael on the court and the junior from Sweden advanced with a with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sacramento State's Marek Marksoo.

The trio pulled off a Saint Mary's first, as the Gaels will send three players to the round of 16 of the ITA Regional for the first time in school history according to head coach Michael Wayman.

Saint Mary's will also have a doubles team in action Sunday, as Norstrom and Kiuru advanced to Sunday's round of 16 with a 8-5 win over Adam Levie and Toki Sherbakov of UC Davis.

Singles action begins at noon on Sunday, which means Kiuru, Manner and Norstrom will all be back on the court at the same time. If they win, they'll play a quarterfinal match at 3 p.m. The semifinals are Sunday, and the final is set for Monday.