Sports Editor- Liv White
On Saturday, March 28th, the Gustavus Women’s Tennis team competed in three conference matches against Hamline, St. Scholastica, and Saint Benedict. Up to this point, the Gusties had only played in one conference match against Concordia on the 14th, in which they swept the Cobbers.
“I think we have been working hard at trying to improve every day to become an even stronger, cohesive, and competitive team that goes out and plays with joy and fights for every point!” Senior Madison Packer said.
To open the day, the Gusties competed against Hamline University. Senior Molly Austin and Sophomore Lanie Davis began doubles by sweeping the #2 match 6-0. Sophomore Karina Elvestrom and Senior Kaya De Bruijn followed with a 6-2 victory in the #1 doubles, securing a point for the Gusties. Doubles closed with the #3 match in which Junior Ella De Young and Senior Pavla Yakimova won 6-2.
Moving to singles, Elvestrom started the Gusties off with a 6-1, 6-0 win in the #1 match. In the #3 match, Austin followed suit with a 6-1, 6-0 victory. Davis secured the team win for the Gusties with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at #5 singles for Gustavus’ fourth team point.
Singles continued with De Bruijn winning #2 singles 6-3, 6-0. Yakimova followed that up with a 6-0, 6-1 in the #6 match. Lastly, De Young sealed the sweep at #4 singles with a 6-2, 6-0 win, beating the Pipers 7-0.
“I thought our energy and cheering as a team this weekend has been really helpful during the long weekends of matches, and just helps everyone play well and have an excited and positive energy on the court!” Packer said.
In the next competition, the Gusties faced St. Scholastica. Sophomore Maya Brakhage and Junior Bethany Smith earned the first win over the Saints in sweeping #3 doubles 6-0. The Gustavus pairs continued to sweep the Saints. De Young and Senior Allison Szalay swept #2 doubles, and Elvstrom and De Bruijn completed the doubles sweep, winning 6-0 at #1.
Brakhage began singles with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep at #5, earning the Gusties their second team point. Elvestrom followed up Brakhage’s sweep with a 6-0, 6-0 win of her own at #1. Smith sealed the team win with a 6-0, 6-1 win at #6 singles.
To close out the match, De Bruijn won #2 singles 6-1, 6-0, De Young followed with a victory of #3 singles 6-1, 6-2, and Szalay scored 6-3, 6-0 at #4 singles. This made for the second 7-0 match sweep of the day for the Gusties.
In their last competition on Saturday, the Gusties were matched up against Saint Benedict. Austin and Davis began by winning #1 doubles 6-4. Next, Yakimova and First-Year Jemima Vitou took #2 doubles also with a score of 6-4. Doubles concluded with Packer and Sophomore Rika Cross earning a 6-2 victory at #3 doubles.
Competition against the Bennies continued with the single matches. Austin won the #1 singles match 6-3, 6-1. Davis nearly swept #2 singles scoring 6-1, 6-0. Yakimova fought hard to win at #3 singles, scoring 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-3), securing the team win for the Gusties.
Additionally, Cross completed a 6-1, 6-0 win in #4 singles. Packer followed that up with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in #5 singles and Vitou took #6 singles match 6-1, 6-2 to finish the Gusties’ undefeated day.
“I think my consistency was key to helping me win matches and just working hard at every point! I think each match brings its challenges and that is what the game of tennis is, learning and adapting as we go. I think we had a really strong weekend, but there is still room to improve and get better individually and as a team.” Packer said.
The next day, March 29th, the Gusties traveled to Winona to face St. Mary’s for their fourth conference match of the weekend. Austin and Davis started the competition, winning the first match of the day by sweeping #2 doubles 6-0. Elvestrom and De Bruijm in #1 doubles followed with another sweep 6-0. De Young and Szalay closed out doubles with the third doubles sweep of the competition in their #3 match.
In the singles competition, the Gusties continued to show out. De Bruijn began by sweeping #2 singles, putting Gustavus up 2-0 against the Cardinals. Austin followed with her own sweep of #3 singles. Elvestrom almost swept #1 singles, winning her match 6-1, 6-0, giving the Gusties their fourth team point.
To round out the competition, Davis won at #5 singles 6-2, 6-0 followed by a 6-1, 6-0 victory at #4 singles by De Young, and a sweep at #6 singles by Szalay.
Gustavus swept the Cardinals 7-0 to complete the weekend, their perfect weekend, winning all 36 of their matches. The 19th nationally ranked Gustavus Women’s Tennis team improved to a 17-5 overall record and continues to be undefeated in MIAC play at 5-0.
“I’m feeling really good about the rest of the season. We still have a lot of conference matches coming up, but I feel like our team is in a good place and we’re excited to keep building off our progress and continuing to improve.” Packer said.
The Women’s Tennis team competes next at the Midwest Invite in Madison, Wisconsin. The invite is a two-day event, beginning Friday, April 3rd.