Tennis posts 2-1 record during busy Saturday

Head Coach Brian Huinker sent his number-27 ranked tennis team in two different directions Feb. 27, grabbing two quality wins against St. Ambrose University (Iowa) and St. Olaf College (Minn.) before falling to Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.)

In Rochester, Minn., half the squad defeated St. Olaf (0-4) 6-3, dominating in all the matches they won.

The Norse won four of the six singles matches lead by Scott Sundstrom (‘12), who dropped Brian Tolly 6-0, 6-2 at #1.

Sundstrom then paired with Max Piepkorn (‘11) to form a #1 doubles team that defeated Knute Gunderson and John Wight 8-5.

In Moline, Ill., the rest of the team dominated St. Ambrose, sweeping singles en route to an 8-1 victory.

At #1 singles, Utsab Rijal (‘10) recovered after losing the first set to defeat Luke Ebener 4-6, 6-3, 10-7.

Two singles players swept their opponets 6-0, 6-0, including Mark Mateski (‘10) at #2 and Samriddh Burman (‘11) at #4.

Aaron Gendron (‘12) and Scott Martin (‘10) also came back after falling behind early, defeating their opponents in third-set tiebreakers 10-3 and 10-7, respectively.

Later in the day, the Norse lost only their second match of the season, falling to NAIA division I opponent Olivet Nazarene.

The team was dominated in singles, dropping five of six matches. Burman was the lone singles victory, defeating Mark Bell 6-4, 7-6.

The Norse picked up two points in doubles, though, with Gendron and Zack Kulzer (‘10) winning 8-4 and Martin and Mateski winning 9-8.

After playing 11 matches in the past three Saturdays, the Norse will play matches against the University of Chicago and DePauw University (Ill.) in Greencastle, Ill. Friday.