PASADENA, Calif. – The No. 19 nationally ranked Gustavus Adolphus College men's tennis team battled the NAIA Hope International University Royals and the No. 31 California Institute of Technology Beavers on Wednesday during their spring break trip to California. The Gusties split their matches with a 6-1 win over Caltech and a 7-0 loss to Hope.
Match One: Hope Royals
The Royals took two of the doubles matches to go up 1-0 before singles, but
Joseph Li and
Quinn Monson won #3 doubles 6-1 for Gustavus.
Hope took all six singles matches en route to their 7-0 win. Li went to a third-set tiebreaker against the Royals at #3 singles, but ultimately fell 6-7, 7-1, 0-1 (11-13) after a hard-fought match.
Match Two: Caltech Beavers
Gustavus had far more success against Caltech, starting with a sweep of all three doubles matches.
Noah Hakim and
Owen Skanse took #3 doubles 6-1,
Dominik Knutson and
Takura Mhwandagara won the #2 match 6-3, and the duo of
Gage Gohl and
Tyler Haddorff secured a 6-4 victory at #1.
Up 1-0, Knutson took #2 singles 6-4, 6-1 to go up 2-0. Mhwandagara followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win at #6 singles as the Gusties went up 3-0. Haddorff clinched the fourth team point and the match victory for Gustavus with a 6-3, 6-2 win at #3 singles.
Match in hand, the two teams kept playing the final individual matches.
Luke Fridinger won #5 singles 6-3, 7-5 and Gohl earned a 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 three-set victory at #1 singles. The Beavers got on the scoreboard in the final match as they won #4 singles, though the Gusties took the match 6-1.
Up Next
Gustavus will take an off day on Thursday before returning to the court to battle the Whittier College Poets and the University of Redlands Bulldogs on Friday, March 6 starting at 3:00 p.m. local (5:00 p.m. CT).
