CLAREMONT, Calif. - No. 12 Gustavus men's tennis split a pair of matches Friday to start competition at the Stag-Hen Invitational, hosted by Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Gusties began the day with a 4-3 loss to No. 27 Babson, but rebounded with a 4-3 win over No. 33 George Fox, moving to 8-5 overall.
Against Babson, the Gusties started the match by dropping two of the three doubles matches, giving the doubles point to the Beavers.
Gage Gohl and
Tyler Haddorff won 6-3 at No. 2.
In singles play, the Beavers claimed the first point at No. 1, but
Jack Bergmeyer secured a 7-6, 6-2 win at No. 6 for the Gusties' first point.
Dominik Knutson followed with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 win at No. 5 before the Beavers won at No. 3 to make the score 3-2. Rafael Costa evened the score with a 2-6, 7-6, 7-5 win at No. 4, but Babson claimed the match with a three-set victory at No. 2.
The Gusties rebounded in their second match of the day, starting strong with a clean sweep in doubles against George Fox to earn the point. The No. 1 tandem of
Marco Siviero and
Josh Christensen as well as the No. 3 team of
Caleb Fridinger and Knutson both won 6-1, while Gohl and Haddorff won 6-0 at No. 2.
Christensen then claimed the first singles point at No. 2, quickly winning 6-1, 6-0. The Bruins got the next point at No. 1, but Bergmeyer gave the Gusties a 3-1 lead after winning 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5. George Fox got within one point with a win at No. 4, but Fridinger secured the win with a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory at No. 6.
"Our guys competed very well today," Head Coach
Tommy Valentini said. "The first day of the Stag-Hen is one of the toughest of the season in Division III men's tennis. The quality of the field is excellent and the conditions are tough. We played hard but didn't execute as well as we hoped in the doubles against Babson, but we pushed back very well in the singles and came up just short in the end against a very good team.
"It took a ton of courage and commitment to our approach to get off the mat, regroup quickly and get present for George Fox. We played excellent doubles to sweep there, but with it only scoring us one point we knew we needed to bring another excellent effort in the singles. Josh and Jack both played excellent matches to get us to the brink and Caleb held his nerve and showed great poise to get us over the line.
"Overall, the line between winning and losing was very thin in both matches, but we're most thankful for how we competed and handled the moment all day. We made good progress as a group today and we look forward to another tough challenge tomorrow against Pomona-Pitzer at their place."
