GRAND FORKS, N.D. / SAINT PETER, Minn. — The Gustavus men's tennis team hosted UW-Stevens Point and Grinnell on Saturday, while also sending a squad to Grand Forks, N.D. to compete against DI Creighton University. The Gusties came away with wins against both Stevens Point and Grinnell, while falling to Creighton, 5-2.
Gustavus opened the day with a perfect 9-0 showing against UW-Stevens Point, and continued to dominate at home against Grinnell, posting another 9-0 victory.
"Today was a great start for our entire team," said Head Coach Tommy Valentini. "We split our group three ways today and each squad that took the court competed very well. Against Stevens Point, we stayed the course early in the doubles and we built some momentum with Justin and Sean getting us the 3-0 lead. From there, the guys stayed focused in the singles and earned a strong team win.
"The doubles were excellent against Grinnell and set a great tone for us there, while our depth and experience were crucial in the singles. Grinnell competes very hard and they are talented. We're grateful for a the result there, but more importantly for how we competed. Our leaders were fantastic and the young guys showed good poise in their first big dual match."
Against Creighton,
Nick Aney (Sr., Rochester) and
Josh Christensen (So., Rochester) picked up singles wins for the Gusties, while the duo of
Daniel Fouchier (Sr., Nootdorp, Netherlands) and
Sourabh Terakanambi (Sr., Apple Valley) earned a doubles victory.
"Against Creighton we certainly had our chances. Sourabh and Daniel were fantastic at number two, and we had a good look at the doubles point in the DI format. Even though we came up just short we competed well and stayed present heading into singles. We were resilient in every singles match. Nick and Josh both executed their game plans well to pick up great wins, and everyone really made some good progress in the singles."
