This past weekend the Gustavus Men’s Tennis team competed in the ITA Indoor Championships, the team’s biggest tournament heading into their regular season.

The Gusties were in for a big challenge, facing eight of the top teams in the country including the University of Chicago and Emory University.

On top of this, there were many other top 25 ranked teams that the No. 8 ranked Gusties were set to face off against.

The men started the ITA Indoor Championships on Friday when they battled against No. 12 Pomona-Pitzer.

Pomona started off strongly, winning four of the six singles matches while the Gusties won just two from Junior Yassine Derbani in the third singles spot and First-year Nick Aney in the fifth spot.

Moving into doubles, the black and gold got right back into it. However, after posting a win from the top doubles team of Seniors Patrick Whaling and Chase Johnson, moving the overall score to 4-3 in Pomona’s favor.

Derbani and Aney proved to be on fire that day, winning their doubles match as well and evening the score at 4-4.

In a nail biting final doubles match, Junior Michael O’Neil and First-year Joel Hug barely lost to their Pomona opponents by a score of 8-7.

This match left Pomona as the winner in this matchup of these two elite tennis colleges with a score of 5-4.

Head Coach Tommy Valentini was very proud of the team’s ability to fight in what they knew would be an uphill battle and was proud of the character the athletes showed.

“It was a heck of match tonight,” Valentini said. “We played very well in the doubles and executed well there. The energy and tactics were great, and we handled the tight moments really well. In the singles, Pomona came out flying. Our guys did very well to stay positive and withstand a big push. We showed great grit to win second sets in the middle of the singles lineup and we certainly had a good look at it down the wire. I couldn’t be prouder of how we competed. We handled what was within our control very well and stuck together beautifully. We certainly wish we could’ve have come through today, but overall, we made some great strides as a team.”

Because of this loss, Gustavus was moved into the consolation bracket to fight against other teams that lost in the early rounds of the tournament.

The following day, the team faced off against Whitman College in the consolation semifinals and posted a strong 7-2 win.

“To bounce back from last night’s tough loss with such a positive effort took a lot of character,” Valentini said.

The team commanded singles, with Johnson, Derbani, O’Neil, Aney, and First-year Indraneel Raut winning five out of the six matches.

The Gusties added on two doubles wins from the top team of Johnson and Whaling and second team of Derbani and Aney.

This win moved the team into the consolation finals and battle for fifth place overall in the tournament.

Going off of the momentum from a big win the day before, the Gusties took it to the host of the tournament this year, No. 18 ranked Case Western Reserve.

All three doubles teams won their matches, and quick singles wins from Aney and Whaling gave the Gusties a 5-0 victory. The rest of the matches were ended early since the winner was already determined at that point.

Aney was named as MIAC Athlete of the Week for his efforts to help the Gusties win their second consecutive consolation title at the ITA Indoor Championships, good for fifth overall in the tournament.

“Overall, the guys focused on what was within our control all day, and we’re grateful that the result went our way in the end,” Valentini said. “It was a great challenge for our group today, and we made very good progress as a team. We’re thankful for a great national indoor tournament, and we look forward to continuing to improve from here.”

The Gusties are back in action March 2. They are set to host St. Olaf, who they play at 9:30 a.m., and Hamline, who they take on at 1 p.m.