SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women's tennis team, ranked No. 35 in the nation in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, started a busy weekend with a win over St. Catherine on Saturday, April 12. The Gusties (15-7, 3-0 MIAC), playing in their first home outdoor match of the spring season, rolled past the Wildcats (12-4, 5-3 MIAC) by a score of 7-2.
Gustavus jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the doubles competition, led by the play of
Karina Elvestrom (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.) and
Kaya De Bruijn (Jr., Maasland, Netherlands) at No. 1. The nationally-ranked duo won 8-3 for the first Gustie victory of the day.
Molly Austin (So., Arden Hills, Minn.) and
Lanie Davis (Fy., St. Louis, Mo.) won 8-6 at No. 2, while
Pavla Yakimova (Jr., Glasgow, Scotland) and classmate
Allison Szalay (Des Moines, Iowa) won a battle at No. 3.
St. Catherine never led over the junior tandem, but tied the score seven times throughout the match, including at 7-7 to force the breaker. Yakimova and Szalay won the first four points before four unanswered from the Wildcats. They pulled away with an eventual 9-7 tiebreaker to collect the final doubles victory.
Brooke Haddorff (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) claimed the first singles win of the day at No. 6, cruising by the Wildcats 6-3, 6-0. Davis extended her win streak to six in singles, improving to 2-1 at No. 4 and 13-3 overall, with a 6-0, 6-1 victory. Austin claimed the next win, 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2.
MIAC Athlete of the Week De Bruijn had her win streak ended at five, falling to SCU's Kelsey Dorr, ranked No. 31 nationally in singles play this season. Szalay claimed the final point for the Gusties, 6-2, 7-5 at No. 3.
The Gusties play four matches tomorrow, April 13, starting with a 10 a.m. MIAC meeting against St. Olaf (9-2, 6-2 MIAC) in Saint Peter. The Gusties will also host Saint Benedict (5-7, 2-4 MIAC) at 3 p.m. at the Wilkinson Tennis Complex. A second team of Gusties will travel to play UW-River Falls (12 p.m.; 5-10, 1-5 MIAC) at UW-Stout (3 p.m.; 4-14, 0-6 WIAC) on Stout's campus in Menomonie, Wis.
