The Gustavus women’s tennis team served, volleyed, and smashed its way to a sixth place finish in last weekend’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championship. The three-day tournament featured eight of the nation’s top tennis programs and was held on campus in the Swanson Tennis Center.
The Gusties—who entered with the tournament’s fourth seed—began the weekend with a tough 7-2 loss to Carnegie Mellon before bouncing back the next morning with a 6-3 victory over DePauw. With the win, Gustavus advanced to the fifth place match, where it fell 6-3 to Washington and Lee.
“Last weekend was a big learning experience for us,” Junior Mary Roop said. “We competed very well and found out some of our weaknesses that we will try to work on so that our team can take the next step.”
After taking the court against three teams ranked in the nation’s top 15, head coach Jon Carlson felt that his squad is better prepared for what lies in the months ahead after competing in the tournament.
“It’s good to get this kind of competition early in the season because it helps us determine where we are nationally and where we need to improve,” Carlson said. “I left last weekend feeling very excited for the rest of the season.”
After losing to Carnegie Mellon on Friday night, the seventh-ranked Gusties turned in an impressive showing against DePauw—the team that holds the 15th slot in the national polls. The Gusties swept the doubles and proceeded to take three singles matches and narrowly miss out on another two matches that were lost in tiebreaker sets.
“We were really proud to have won that second match against DePauw, but even in losing to great teams like Carnegie Mellon and Washington and Lee we showed that we can compete on the same level as them,” Roop said.
The sixth place showing by Gustavus at the tournament mirrored its finish at last season’s event right down to the order of wins and losses. Despite some missteps, the team expressed overall satisfaction with the results.
“We were really hoping to win our first match and get to the semis, but the good thing is that we didn’t go down place-wise from last year,” Erickson said. “I think that if we had to do the tournament all over again we would have done some things differently, but with a little bit of practice we can be right there with those teams.”
Coach Carlson’s squad anticipated that the tournament would prove to be a valuable learning experience and used it as a way to identify strengths and weaknesses.
“Our strength so far this season is definitely our competitiveness,” Roop said. “We want to be the team nobody wants to face because we fight for every point and play for every ball.”
Although the Gusties swept the doubles against DePauw, they fell into an early 3-0 hole in the other two matches after failing to register a point in the doubles format.
“We really need to work on our doubles, because coming out two matches this weekend with zero [doubles] wins really hurts our chances,” Erickson said. “With that said, we realized that our strengths lie in being a scrappy team, which is something we hope to continue the rest of the season.”
The team’s refusal to give up shined through in Erickson’s performance in the number four singles match against Washington and Lee. With the match already decided in favor of the Generals, Erickson fought her way to a 2-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6) win in the tiebreaking third set.
“I lost the fifth point and [Megan] Born lost as well, but Alex played her heart out even though we had already lost the match,” Roop said. “That just proves that we fight for every point, and we don’t take any match for granted.”
Erickson insisted that insightful coaching and the support of her teammates were instrumental in her ability to emerge victorious in the team’s longest match despite having already represented Gustavus in two doubles matches and another singles match already that day.
“The match hadn’t been decided yet [when we went to the tiebreaker], so I was definitely feeling some pressure,” Erickson said. “I talked over some strategies during my break and luckily those worked so that I was able to hang on until the end. I just wanted to play for my team—that’s what motivates each of us to wake up early and put in the hours during afternoon practice every day.”
Carlson admired the way his women fought back after the early 3-0 deficit against Washington and Lee to secure half of the possible six points in the singles matches.
“It was tough to drop all three doubles points, but our [women] came out for singles and battled better than they did all weekend,” Carlson said. “As a coach, you like to see that kind of a response when things aren’t looking good.”
Hosting its second ITA Indoor Championship in three years, the Swanson Tennis Center has paid huge dividends for the Gusties in terms of recruiting pull, hosting large tournaments on campus, and the ability for the Gusties to train in the snowy months.
“It was exciting that we got to host the tournament this year. It made a huge difference having fans cheering us when we were up and supporting us when we were down,” Roop said. Having a facility like the [Swanson Tennis Center] is a huge advantage that allows us to be right up there with the teams in the south.”
The Gusties used the home-court advantage in their favor and thoroughly enjoyed an opportunity to play some of the top teams in the nation with friends and family looking on.
“Last year at DePauw it was completely different because only our families traveled to the match,” Erickson said. “We loved having fans come out and cheer. It’s always a fun atmosphere when our friends are able to watch our matches.”
As the Gusties wrap up the first month of their season, Roop said that a sense of the team’s identity has begun to emerge.
“One of the cool things about tennis is that we could get no new freshmen and still have a team that is so different from the previous year because of the team dynamic,” Roop said. “Tennis is all about finding everyone’s strengths and playing to our abilities.”
The Gusties will host a pair of matches each of the next two Saturdays before traveling to Atlanta over spring break to face four different teams in as many days. The team will then travel to Madison for a tournament before opening the conference season at Bethel on April 16.
“Some of these upcoming matches may be easier than last weekend, but it will be a good opportunity to work on things so that we’re ready to go for our Spring Break trip,” Erickson said.
After a long weekend of tennis at the bubble, the team has spent the past week recovering and is now looking ahead to the rest of the season with confidence.
“Now we just need to regroup after such a long weekend and rest up,” Roop said. “It’s a long season, and we have to be able to conquer the waves of emotion that come with every match.”