Written by David Youngs
Cleveland, OHIO – Stacked up in a pool of fellow division three tennis heavyweights, the Gustavus men’s tennis team fell to 2021 national runner-up Case Western in the first round of the ITA Indoor National Championships in Cleveland, Ohio.
Despite a spread of competitive matches, the Gusties were unable to topple the team that ended their 2021 season in the Round of 16 at the NCAA National Tournament.
The Gusties hit the ground running with a pair of close doubles matches. The regionally-ranked tandem of Sourabh Terakanambi (Jr., Apple Valley) and Daniel Fouchier (Nootdorp, Netherlands) broke serve early against the Spartans to take a lead a 1-0 lead in their match at No. 2 doubles. Case Western would break back and jump out to a 6-3 lead with an opportunity to serve out the match.
That didn’t stop Terakanambi and Fouchier; with their backs up against the wall, the two rattled off five unanswered games to edge the Spartans in an 8-6 victory.
The No.11 team in the nation of Nick Aney (Sr., Rochester) and Alex Budde (Jr., Menomonee Falls, Wis.) dropped a tight 8-5 contest to the Spartans at the top doubles spot. Aney and Budde pushed Case Western to an identical score in last year’s Round of 16 matchup.
Gustavus fought hard in singles with a pair of close three-setters. After losing the first set 6-0, first-year Marco Siviero (Fy., Sao Miguel de Oeste, Brazil) rallied to win the second set in a tiebreaker before dropping the deciding super-tiebreaker. Fresh off a gritty doubles win, Fouchier fought after losing the first set to win the second before falling in a super-tiebreaker at No. 3 singles.
Coaches Corner
Despite the loss, Head Coach Tommy Valentini was impressed with the way the Gutsies competed.
“It’s a thrill to be back competing at indoors. I thought the guys handled the moment very well given the circumstances today,” Valentini said.
WIth doubles as a cornerstone of the program, Valentini was proud of the win at No. 2 doubles and tight match at No. 1.
“We had great energy in doubles,” he said. “Nick and Alex competed well and had a good look at it at No. 1 doubles. Sourabh and Daniel fought beautifully to get us on the scoreboard and signaled that we would not go away under any circumstances.
And while the results didn’t go their way, the effort and competition on the singles court stuck out to Valentini.
“In singles, they (Case Western) have a lot of talent. Our guys stuck to our plan at every spot and we competed our way” Valentini said. “We had some great opportunities in many matches, including the spits at No. 3 and No. 5 singles. We’ll grow a lot from this one and we’re excited to recover and enjoy another great opportunity tomorrow.”
What’s Next: No. 8 seeded Gustavus (5-2, 2-0 MIAC) will take on the loser of (4) Trinity and (5) Brandeis tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. to continue their ITA Indoor Championships weekend in Cleveland.
Members of the Gusties will also be in action this weekend in St. Peter with a non-conference matchup against Northwestern (MN). The Gusties are 3-0 against the Eagles in program history and have defeated Northwestern 9-0 in all three matchups.