SAINT PETER, Minn. - No. 16 Gustavus men's tennis had a tough task Friday night to open the 2025 ITA National Team Indoor Championships, facing the top team in the country, University of Chicago. Despite a long battle, the Gusties fell 5-2 to to the Maroons in the first round.
Gage Gohl and
Tyler Haddorff gave the Gusties the upper hand right out of the gate with a swift 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles.
Marco Siviero and
Josh Christensen played a tightly-contest match at No. 2, but lost 7-5. And the No. 3 team of
Dominik Knutson and
Taona Mhwandagara went to a breaker, but fell 7-6 (7-1).
In singles, Chicago picked up straight set wins at Nos. 4 and 5 before Siviero erased a first set 6-3 loss to win the last two 7-5, 6-4. The Maroons earned the match-clinching point with a three-set victory at No. 3. Gohl then completed a comeback victory at No. 2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, while Mhwandagara suffered a long 6-7 (3-7), 7-5, 3-6 loss at No. 6.
"Tonight was a truly special college tennis match," said Head Coach
Dr. Tommy Valentini. "The atmosphere was incredible, and our guys embraced the moment beautifully. We came out with great energy in the doubles and we executed well. Gage and Tyler were brilliant at number one, and we had great looks at it at both the two and three spots. Despite coming up just short of the doubles point, we pushed back in the singles with incredible grit and trust. Our guys just never gave in. They fought for each other and lived out our values at the highest level, and in the process put together a match that we'll remember for a long time, and that we will take so many positives from. Marco showed tremendous poise to come back from a break down in the third against a top-quality and experienced opponent. Gage made fantastic adjustments down 0-3 in the second, and trusted his game to take out another highly ranked opponent. Joshy was just remarkable - a set and 5-1 down, he battled back and extended the match and gave our whole team a boost that is tough to quantify.
"Certainly we would have loved to have gotten it over the line today against the reigning NCAA champs, and the line between winning and losing was razor thin, but the character we showed was tremendous. We will certainly look to grow from this one, but first, we need to recover well and be ready to embrace another fun and massive challenge tomorrow. We also want to thank our crowd and all of our supporters tonight. The atmosphere was simply electric and made for a match that was so special to experience at this national championship event."
Gustavus will face Emory at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the consolation round.
