DES MOINES, Iowa – The Gustavus men’s tennis team started its fall season this past weekend against Division I competition at the Drake Invite. Fourteen Gusties made the trip to the Roger Knapp Tennis Center, coming away with an 11-28 record in singles play and 4-17 mark in doubles. Gustavus was the lone Division III team to participate in a field that included Creighton, Drake, Marquette, Nebraska, North Dakota, Northwest Missouri State, and Omaha.
Josh Christensen (Fy., Rochester) highlighted the invite for the Gusties as he won the G Singles Draw with three victories. Christensen defeated Sawyer Nickel of Northwest Missouri State 6-4, 6-1; Will Tennison of Marquette 4-6, 6-3, 11-9, and Ethan Neil of Creighton 6-3, 7-6 in the championship. Sean Bochman (Jr., Fall Creek, Wis.) also came away with a winning record in the H Draw, winning two of three matches. Daniel Fouchier (Jr., Nootdorp, Netherlands) and Indraneel Raut (Sr., Oshkosh, Wis.) saw success in the B Doubles Draw with a 2-1 record.
“It was wonderful for our guys to get back out and compete with this strong field,” Head Coach Tommy Valentini said. “Being back at this event certainly made us appreciate the fall season even more this year after not being able to compete last fall. Overall we played a lot of very good matches, and learned a lot about where we are and who we are as a team. It was great to see many of our new family members in action competing as Gusties for the first time, and our leadership group took some important steps forward in their new roles as well. We’re grateful to have been able to be together on the road, and we look forward to getting home this week and working on key areas in our games as we prepare for the exciting challenges of the ITA regionals.”
Gustavus is set to host the ITA Midwest Region Championship on Oct. 1-4.