CLAREMONT, Calif. – Members of the Gustavus women's tennis team competed today at the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Individual Championships, having entrants in both the singles and doubles draw. First-year Karina Elvestrom (Minnetonka, Minn.) competed in singles and was joined by partner Kaya De Bruijn (Jr., Maasland, Netherlands) in the doubles portion of the tournament.
Elvestrom competed in the morning session in singles, facing off against the number one overall seed and last year's national champion, Angie Zhou from Pomona-Pitzer. The Gustie first-year raced out of the gate, taking an early break to go up 1-0. This momentum continued, holding serve and giving herself a 2-0 lead. At this point in the set, Zhou proved why she has her ranking, stringing together six straight games to take the first set 6-2.
In the second set, Elvestrom was able to string together points, but Zhou bested her, winning the second set 6-0. The first-year ends her singles season with one of the most decorated rookie seasons in school history, including an ITA Singles All-American, ITA Midwest Regional Singles Champion, Rookie of the Year, and a MIAC All-Conference Singles member. The Minnetonka native finished 19-13 in singles play, including a 3-1 record against non-Division III opponents.
"Karina drew the number one seed, which is always tough and you always expect it to be a very tough match, but she started off very well" said head coach Jon Carlson '88 after Elvestrom's first round singles match. "It was a good first experience and we're very happy for her".
In the afternoon, Elvestrom teamed up with De Bruijn to face another high seed in the tournament. This time, it was in the form of the number two seed in the women's doubles draw, Nina Farhat and Sahana Raman from Middlebury College. On the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) website, Farhat and Raman are ranked #1 in the country and boast a 26-3 record as doubles partners.
The first set started with each player holding their serve, sending the score to 2-2. In the ensuing game, the first break went in favor of Middlebury, breaking Elvestrom's serve. After two Panther holds and another break, the first set belonged to Farhat/Raman, 6-2.
During the second set, the Gustavus doubles team opened with a hold of serve and the set was tied at 1-1. The Gustie serve was broken and stayed true until the 3-2 juncture of the second set. At this point, Middlebury failed to hold serve for the first time in the match, tying the set back at 3-3. The Panthers returned the favor, going back up 4-3, followed by a hold of serve. With the match on the line, the Gusties were broken and dropped the set and match, losing 6-2, 6-3.
De Bruijn and Elvestrom brought in their fair share of accolades as team this year. As a doubles team, they were ITA Doubles All-Americans, the MIAC Doubles Team of the Year, and a MIAC All-Conference Doubles team. On the court, they finished 25-8 as a team, 23-6 against Division III opponents, 10-0 in MIAC play, and before today, had not lost a match since April 5th, over a month and a half ago.
