ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Gustavus women's tennis team, which moved up to No. 29 in this week's national rankings, opened a three-match weekend with a pair of wins in the Twin Cities over Hamline and Macalester on Friday, April 18. The Gusties (21-7, 7-0 MIAC) started the day with a 9-0 victory against the Pipers followed by an 8-1 win against the Scots later in the afternoon.
Gustavus 9, Hamline 0
The Gusties needed just two sets in all but one match against the Pipers (11-7, 3-5 MIAC) Friday morning at Baseline Tennis Center, sweeping the doubles competition – dropping just four games overall – and held the Pipers to two or less in 11 singles sets.
The pairs of
Kaya De Bruijn (Jr., Maasland, Netherlands) and
Karina Elvestrom (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.) and
Brooke Haddorff (Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) and
Pavla Yakimova (Jr., Glasgow, Scotland) each claimed 8-1 wins at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, respectively. Classmates
Molly Austin (Jr., Arden Hills, Minn.) and
Allison Szalay (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa) won 8-3 at No. 2.
In singles play, De Bruijn posted a pair of 6-1 wins at No. 2, while
Noor Omar (Fy., Fridley, Minn.) won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4 and
Ella De Young (So., Iowa City, Iowa) won by a nearly identical 6-1, 6-0 score at No. 6.
Haddorff won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5, while Elvestrom won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1. Szalay dropped her first set at No. 3 singles 6-2, but responded with a 6-2 win of her own, followed by a 10-3 super-breaker to complete the clean sweep in match one.
Gustavus 8, Macalester 1
The Gusties won all but No. 2 singles in their afternoon MIAC match-up with the Scots (3-12, 1-6 MIAC), sweeping doubles and winning five singles matches in two sets each.
Maya Brakhage (Fy., Boulder, Colo.) and Omar cruised to a win at No. 3 doubles to open the match, winning 8-0. Yakimova and Haddorff claimed their second victory of the day in the doubles, winning 8-3 at No. 2. Meanwhile, Szalay and De Young battled to an 8-5 win at No. 1.
Austin claimed her singles win of the day at No. 1 via scores of 6-4, 6-3. Both De Young and Brakhage won 6-1, 6-0 at Nos. 3 and 5, while Yakimova and
Madison Packer (Jr., Wadena, Minn.) won with clean 6-0 victories at No. 4 and No. 6.
The Gusties complete their weekend in Northfield tomorrow, April 19, for a match-up between the last two undefeated teams in conference play. No. 29 Gustavus will face No. 24 Carleton (12-2, 7-0 MIAC) for a 3 p.m. match.
