Without any seniors on the Men’s Tennis team roster, the Gusties have a lot of potential this year after a disappointing end to last season. The Gusties lost their stranglehold on the MIAC with a difficult 7-2 defeat in the MIAC Playoff Championships against the Carleton Knights.
However, the Gusties return nearly everyone from the roster last year, while adding 10 first-years to the team. “I love the environment. They brought me in as family ever since the first day, and I have been having a great time ever since. When we play matches with the team and cheer each other on, it’s such a good feeling and something that I will remember the rest or my life,” First-year Marcel Gyswyt said.
Returning players leading the way for the Gusties this year include Juniors Amrik Donkena, Patrick Clark and Daniel Pomeranc and Sophomore Tyler Johnson. After two defeats to Division II teams in Hawaii, the Gusties had a five match winning streak before losing both matches this past weekend againstly highly ranked Division III schools.
“The season has been going well, but we still have to work on different aspects of the game,” First-year Juan Luis Chu said. “In my opinion, we could be a way better team than we are now because of the potential we have.”
The team aspect is something the Gustavus Men’s Tennis team emphasizes both on and off the court. While there are three doubles matches and six singles matches that compose each meet, it’s still a team sport. “Our largest challenge for our team to overcome is believing in each other at whatever position you are in, doing everything you can to stay positive and to win as a team,” Gyswyt said.
That team aspect carries over to their lives outside of tennis, especially with helping the first-years on the team acclimate to the Gustavus tennis environment. “[Playing at Gustavus] has passed all the expectations I had,” Chu said, who is from Peru. “All the guys [on] the tennis team treat each other as family, and that helped me during the first months on my transition to college.”
Even with the youth on the team, the Gusties have high hopes for this season. “Our goal as a team is to win our regional and go to Nationals. When we get there, obviously we want to get as far as we can. We have a super young team, and we have already improved a lot,” Gyswyt said.
Chu added to Gyswyt’s expectations for the team this season but added other goals for the team. “[We want] to play every match as our best match and have fun while playing,” Chu said. “[But] we want to get into Nationals and to qualify for Indoor Nationals next year.”
While the Gusties look ahead to playing MIAC conference opponents in the near future, they are also looking forward to traveling to California over Spring Break to play Middlebury, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and University of Redlands. “The trip to California will be a great way to measure ourselves against the best teams in the nation,” Chu said.
Immediately following the California trip, the Gusties have a rematch with Carleton. The Men’s Tennis team will look to avenge their loss to the Knights in the MIAC Playoff Championship last year and reclaim the MIAC title.