Nyden Hill – Staff Writer
Last week, the Gustavus men’s tennis team sent a group of their best players to Claremont, California to compete against some of the nation’s best competition in the Stag Hen Invitational. The event was hosted by the Claremont-Mudd Scripps, a joint intercollegiate program comprised of three different institutions from the Claremont Colleges.
The Gusties entered this invitational riding the momentum of a two match winning streak, coming off a string of dominant outings against Luther and Hamline. Despite this momentum, the Gusties faced a tough test with their first matchup of the invitational in facing the Trinity University Tigers. Coming into the contest, the Tigers were ranked 13 in the nation, riding a two match win streak of their own against UT-Dallas and Hardin-Simmons. Despite this current matchup, the Gusties remained both confident in themselves and aware of the opportunity of this opportunity to prove themselves against another highly-ranked opponent.
With this in mind, it is important to note that playing well against highly-ranked teams is nothing new for the Gusties. During the ITA National Indoor Championships, the Gusties took it to some of the best competition that the nation had to offer in the University of Chicago, NC Wesleyan, and Emory. While the Gusties fell short in their matchups against the University of Chicago and Emory (both resulted in 3-5 losses), they did prove that they were able to hang with any other team in the country, with the University of Chicago being ranked number one in the nation at the time.
Against the Trinity University Tigers, the Gusties proved this narrative correct, as they found immediate success in doubles. Playing in the number one doubles spot, the Gustie duo of Senior Daniel Fouchier, and Senior Nick Aney, defeated a Trinity duo with a score of 6-4. In the number two spot, First-year Gage Gohl, and Senior Alex Budde, defeated their competition by a two-score margin with a score of 6-4 as well. Finally, playing in the number three spot, Senior Sourabh Terakanambi and Sophomore Marco Siviero, completed the doubles sweep in a 7-6 victory.
“Because we knew singles would be a battle, getting that doubles point was really big for momentum purposes,” Senior Nick Aney said.
The momentum generated from the stellar play in doubles seemed to translate perfectly into singles play, as the Gusties won their singles matches by a margin of two, resulting in a score of 4-2. Aney, Siviero, and Sophomore Josh Christenen all defeated their competition, competing in the number one, third, and fifth singles spots, respectively. To culminate this victory, Budde battled back from being behind in the third set to winning the set 7-5, and winning the match as well. This victory from Budde extended his winning streak to four on the season and earned him MIAC men’s tennis athlete of the week honors. When asked about what kinds of things have most bolstered his success on the court, Budde credits his amazing teammates at Gustavus for his performance.
“As a whole, we have all committed to make practices feel like matches. Bringing a ton of energy and making matches intense is huge, which makes moments like Trinity feel more regular for us,” Budde said.
With this being arguably the farthest away the Gusties have traveled to compete this year, the Gusties had to find other ways to bolster their performance that went beyond simply working hard to try to get the win. When asked about what kinds of things that the Gusties took advantage of in their match against Trinity, Fouchier had this to say.
“We have been stepping up in the big moments greatly in the recent marches. We have embraced them and brought out everything we’ve had. This has helped us greatly to get the edge in a lot of individual matches and as a team. We did this again against Trinity, starting in the doubles, and then again when the score was 2-2 and all of the guys on the court managed to pull out their close matches,” Senior Daniel Fouchier said.
With this great showing in mind, the Gusties look forward to the rest of the season, especially their spring break trip, where the competition they will face will continue to be stiff. With lots of tennis left to play, the Gusties certainly have a strong and hopeful vision for the rest of the season.
“If we sustain this consistent high level of playing I can’t see why we can’t make a big NCAA tournament run at the end of year, but for now we have to look at one match at a time and get ready for a tough opponent in Chicago,” Sophomore Josh Christensen said.
We wish the Gusties the best of luck as they hope to continue to build on their already amazing season!