SAINT PETER, Minn. — The Gustavus men's tennis team has been nothing but impressive through the first three days of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. Gustavus welcomed 28 of the top teams in the region to Saint Peter for the annual tournament, and the Gusties made their mark on their home court. The Gusties advanced athletes in both the singles and doubles championships, to be played Monday.
The doubles championship will certainly result in a Gustie victory, as
Marco Siviero and
Josh Christensen will face teammates
Gage Gohl and
Tyler Haddorff. Luke VanDonslear of UW-Whitewater is the only non-Gustavus player in the finals, and will face Gohl for the singles championship.
The Gusties got off to a strong start on day once, advancing 10 of 12 singles players to Saturday's round of 32. On Saturday, Haddorff led off with the upset of the tournament, defeating Luther's Luke Westholder, the No. 1 seed in the region, 6-3 and 7-6 to advance to the next round. Nine Gusties moved to the round of 16, as Siviero, Christensen, Gohl,
Rafael de Camargo Costa,
Jack Bergmeyer,
Caleb Fridinger,
Luke Fridinger, and
Dominik Knutson each won their opening match on Saturday. The sheer amount of Gusties advancing through the tournament required a few intra-team eliminations, as
Luke Fridinger defeated Haddorff by two scores of 6-3 for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Sunday saw seven of eight quarterfinal spots held by the hosts. Costa, seeded fifth in the region, defeated
Luke Fridinger 6-3 and 7-6 to advance to the semis. Christensen's singles competition came to a close at the hands of VanDonslear, who boasts a No. 5 regional seed this weekend. Gohl emerged victorious over
Caleb Fridinger, and No. 2 seed Siviero defeated Bergmeyer. VanDonslear, who now has three victories over Gustie players in the tournament, secured a spot in the finals with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Costa, while Gohl put together a pair of 6-4 victories to defeat Siviero.
Gustavus was just as effective in the doubles tournament, advancing six teams through the rounds of 64 and 32, and five through the round of 16 and the quarterfinals.
In Saturday's quarters, Bergmeyer and Costa were eliminated by Carroll's Adrian Gomez and Dani Ezcurra, ranked fifth in the tournament. The Fridinger brothers were defeated by eventual finalists Gohl and Haddorff in the quarterfinals, while the remaining Gustie teams advanced to the semis. Siviero and Christensen defeated VanDonslear and Tyler Nelson and
Taona Mhwandagara and Knutson bested Luther's Eli Young and Lev van Hermert. Siviero and Christensen and Gohl and Haddorff each came up with victories to advance to the finals.
Singles finals will start at 10 a.m. with doubles at 4 p.m. Monday. Both Gustie doubles team in the finals, as well as Gohl in the singles, all receive automatic bids to the ITA Cup in Rome, Ga. October 12-16.
