Written by Sports Writing Student Mya Hanson
SAINT PETER, Minn. — The Gustavus men's tennis team completed its sweep of the MIAC in the regular season with a pair of 9-0 wins over Macalester and St. Scholastica on Saturday. The Gusties have now won 54 MIAC regular season championships and 37 consecutive, dating back to the 1986 season.
Gustavus 9, Macalester 0
Continuing their top-notch conference play, the Gusties roared past the Scots, 9-0.
In doubles, the duo Jack Bergmeyer and Tyler Haddorff soared into a quick 8-1 win at No. 1, while Taona Mhwandagara and Rafael Costa finished strong, dropping just three games for a score of 8-3. Oscar Wikström and Geoffrey Youngs completed the doubles sweep with an 8-4 win.
Gustavus took the reigns in singles, holding its own without dropping a set. Bergmeyer got the first victory with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 2. Mhwandagara followed close behind with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 4. At No. 6, Haddorff stunned with a pair of 6-0 sets and Luke Fridinger capped off another victory 6-0, 6-4 at No. 5. Costa dominated at No. 1 with a 6-1, 6-2 finish and Caleb Fridinger added icing to the cake with his 6-0, 7-5 win at No. 3.
With two matchups to end the regular season, Mhwandagara shared, "We took today like every other match since the beginning of the semester. We have been building up, trying to be as good of a team as we possibly can. So, we were all excited to end the regular season with two home matches, playing outside, and to just have another day to get better as a team."
Gustavus 9, St. Scholastica 0
The Gusties tied a bow on their perfect conference season, besting the Saints 9-0.
Gustavus kept the momentum going into its second matchup of the day, earning all three doubles matches. Josh Christensen and Marco Siviero took a decisive 8-3 win at No. 1. The No. 2 duo of Caleb Fridinger and Dominik Knutson claimed an 8-4 victory, while Tyler Haddorff and Jack Bergmeyer powered their way to an 8-2 win at No. 3.
On the singles side, the dynamite matchplay continued with Christensen and Caleb Fridinger both claiming victory in two sets of 6-1 at No. 2 and No. 4 respectively. Siviero dominated at No. 1 with a 6-0, 6-1 finish, while Luke Fridinger got a 6-2, 6-0 win at No. 5 and Oscar Wikström took a victory in sets of 6-2 at No. 6. Bergmeyer took nine quick games in his No. 3 matchup, before his opponent retired early for the Gustie singles sweep.
Heading into MIAC playoffs next week, Head Coach Tommy Valentini reflected on the season and shared, "It's a long journey and the guys have done remarkably. We've made a lot of good strides. Our upperclassmen, seniors, and leaders have all been fantastic. Everybody has had to grow into new roles this year and they've all done it very well as a group. Obviously, the results are great, but, more than that, it's just about how they're growing as a team and how they're understanding what it means to do things the way we're trying to do them. We are grateful to be together for another week and we just want to keep trying to be the best team that we are capable of being and keep doing the things we need to do on a daily basis to pursue that."
The Gusties, now 20-7 overall and 9-0 in the MIAC, will host the winner of the No. 4 and No. 5-seed matchup next Friday to start the MIAC playoffs.
