The Gustavus Women’s Tennis team has roared into the 2015-2016 season with the similar success as it has for its stellar past few decades. After a short hiccup in its 20 years reign atop the conference, Gustavus saw its remarkable run end in 2012. However, 2015 signaled the return to the top of the standings for Head Coach Jon Carlson and the Gusties, as they reclaimed the crown with a dominant 10-0 MIAC record (16-13 overall) to capture the program’s 27th regular season conference title in school history (21 of which have come under Carlson’s lead).
“We played very well against a very tough Drake team… The scores in the matches that we lost don’t reflect how well our team competed or the improvements they made.” — Coach Heidi Carlson
Gustavus’ hopes for a repeat title are quite high, as they return all but one significant contributor in St. Peter this season. Junior Michaela Schulz is back atop of the Gusties lineup after receiving the accolades of All-MIAC singles and doubles honors last season, and Seniors Lizzy Stanczyk and Sid Dirks are also back to lead Gustavus again after earning All-Conference honors as juniors. The 2016 Women’s Tennis Preseason Coaches’ Polls put the Gusties a mere two points behind St. Thomas, who beat them in the MIAC playoff final in 2015.
Only a few weeks into the season, Gustavus sits comfortably at second in the conference with a currently undefeated record in the MIAC at 3-0 and an overall record of 6-3. Ranked third in the MIAC in Preseason polls, Carleton sits atop the conference due to their undefeated record in both the MIAC and overall.
Gustavus opened the season on Feb. 13, going 1-2 on the day, beginning with a 0-9 loss at Northern Iowa, and returning to St. Peter to host Southwest Minnesota State who they overcame 6-3, and finally falling to University of Sioux Falls 4-5.
Despite the relatively slow start, the Black and Gold crushed all three of their MIAC opponents on Feb. 27, completing the dominant trifecta over Hamline, Concordia and Bethel all by a score of 9-0.
This success for the most part carried over into the past weekend, in which Gustavus went 2-1 against their greatest competition of the season. The Gusties started the day with a hard fought 6-3 win over Morningside College in St. Peter, and finished at home with momentum over Division II UM-Duluth, earning an 8-1 win. Katie Aney (So., Rochester, Minn), Cal Carlson (Jr. St. Peter, Minn.), and Sheila Sullivan (St. Paul, Minn.) each earned singles and doubles victories on the evening, while Caitlin Steffen (Fy., Baxter, Minn.), Riley Abeyesekera (Jr., Brooklyn Park, Minn), and Kaity Johnson (Sr., Litchfield, Minn.) took home singles wins at positions 4-6, respectively, to help the Gusties to a singles sweep. Johnson highlighted the evening with a come-from-behind 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 10-6 marathon.
Meanwhile, the Black and Gold had a separate squad playing in Des Moines, Iowa, to compete with Division I Drake. Ally Baker (So., Rosemount, Minn.) and Bri Hartmann (Fy. Owatonna, Minn.) played with vigor, beating two of Drake’s top players 6-1 in No. 3 doubles. Unfortunately for Gustavus, DI rules dictate that the overall winner of all doubles matches only counts as one point as opposed to each match individually, therefore giving Drake the edge as they won the No. 1 and No. 2 matches, awarding them the sole point.
“We played very well against an incredibly tough Drake team,” Assistant Coach Heidi Carlson said. “The scores in the matches that we lost don’t reflect how well our team competed or the improvements they made from playings against such good competition, especially in doubles. Unfortunately with Division I rules being a little different, we weren’t able to see how some of the matches would have played out, but I’m so proud of our team.”
Despite the loss to Drake, there were numerous positives on the day. “Our home team pulled out some great wins today,” Jon Carlson said. “We played smarter as the day went on and made some major improvements. I’m proud of the team for their overall mental toughness and fighting through some tough matches today.”
Looking forward, the Gusties will be in San Antonio from Friday, March 11-Tuesday, March 15 to take on nationally ranked East Texas Baptist, Trinity, Texas-Lutheran, and Mary Hardin-Baylor.