ROME, Ga. – The Gustavus men's tennis team began the four-day national ITA Cup on Thursday, with a pair of athletes competing in the singles draw, while the Gustie doubles team of Marco Siviero (Sr., Sao Miguel de Oeste, Brazil) and Josh Christensen (Sr., Rochester) earned All-America honors at the tournament for the second consecutive year. 

Gage Gohl (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) started the day off for the Gusties, as the Midwest Regional Singles Champion matched up with Alex Feies of Carnegie Mellon. Feies, just a freshman, claimed the ITA Southeast Regional Championship in September to earn a spot in the national tournament. Feies kept Gohl at arm's length, defeating the Gustie 6-1, 6-3 to advance. 

Meanwhile, teammate Siviero battled RPI's Aiden Drover-Mattinen on the next court over at the Rome Tennis Center. Siviero, who was the Midwest runner-up, fell 6-4 to the Northeast champion. The Gustie senior put up his best fight in the second set, taking Drover-Mattinen to a 7-6 score, but fell 7-5 in the tiebreaker. 

Siviero avenged his singles loss in the doubles competition, as he and Christensen won a three-set thriller to earn All-America honors. Facing Whitman's Noah Baker and Alexander Stage, the Gusties claimed set one 7-6. A 6-4 Whitman win in set two forced the match to a third-set tiebreaker, with the Gusties claiming the first round victory by a 10-5 score. The win earns the duo their second ITA Doubles All-America laurels, and the 134th and 135th all-time for the Gustavus men's tennis program. 

Christensen and Siviero will play at 2 p.m. CST Friday against Johns Hopkins' Allen Gong and Dylan Blenkiron. Gohl and Siviero will play in the singles consolation Friday at 8 a.m.