NORTHFIELD, Minn. – In a meeting between the last two undefeated teams in MIAC women's tennis play, the No. 29 Gusties defeated No. 24 Carleton 6-3 behind a doubles sweep and super-breaker wins at Nos. 2 and 5 singles on Saturday, April 19.
Molly Austin's two-set win at No. 3 singles proved to be crucial, while
Kaya De Bruijn clinched the match at No. 2 for Gustavus's first win over Carleton in five meetings.
Doubles play made the difference on Saturday, as Austin (Jr., Arden Hills, Minn.) and
Lanie Davis (Fy., St. Louis, Mo.) claimed the first win of the day at No. 2, 8-3.
Allison Szalay (Jr., Des Moines, Iowa) and
Ella De Young (So., Iowa City, Iowa) weren't far behind, clinching their win at No. 3 8-4.
After Carleton (12-3, 7-1 MIAC) knotted things up 6-6 at No. 2, De Bruijn (Jr., Maasland, Netherlands) and
Karina Elvestrom (Fy., Minnetonka, Minn.) closed the doubles sweep with an 8-6 victory.
Austin cruised at No. 3 singles, winning by scores of 6-2, 6-1. Both Elvestrom (No. 1) and
Brooke Haddorff (No. 6; Sr., Burnsville, Minn.) dropped their decisions in two sets to the Knights. Davis, who won set one 7-6 (7-5), fell 6-2 in set two before dropping the 10-7 super-breaker.
Both De Bruijn and
Noor Omar (Fy., Fridley, Minn.) won their first singles sets, De Bruijn 6-3 at No. 2 and Omar 6-2 at No. 5, but dropped their second of the match to force the super-breaker. De Bruijn and Carleton's Nechiporuk played to seven tie scores, and Nechiporuk took a late lead at 10-9, but De Bruijn rattled off the next three points to clinch the victory. After being tied 7-7, Omar also wrapped things up with the final consecutive points to win at No. 5.
"We had a great weekend this week. After playing two matches Friday, today was a bit of a tall order, but our team showed up ready to go against Carleton," said head coach
Jon Carlson '88. "We knew it was going to be a battle, and it didn't disappoint. It really came down to the end, and the women stepped up big time and played as a team, and it was absolutely awesome to see them rise to the occasion.
"Even the matches we lost were great, quality tennis. We still have a lot of work to do, but I'm excited for the rest of the season. I'm just very proud of them. They worked hard in preparation for this weekend, and I told them ahead of the match that I would be proud regardless of the outcome because of the way they prepared. And their preparation paid off."
The Gusties (22-7, 8-0 MIAC) have just two conference matches remaining, traveling to Bethel (12-3, 7-1 MIAC) on Saturday, April 26 for a match that will certainly determine playoff standings, followed by the team's regular season finale at St. Scholastica (11-5, 5-3 MIAC) on the following day, April 27.
