Norse beat Gusties

A week away from the Iowa Conference Tournament and an attempt to make nationals, the Luther men’s tennis team took on their biggest rival, Gustavus, and beat them for the first time since the seventies.

The Norse jumped out early, sweeping doubles and earning a 3-0 advantage before singles play.

The match came down to the play of Utsab Rijal (‘10) and Mark Mateski (‘10) who secured the last two wins en route to a 5-4 victory, and Utsab Rijal (‘10) teamed at #1 doubles to post a clutch 9-8 victory.

Mateski and Harry Whitely (‘11) won 8-5 at #2 doubles and Scott Sundstrom (‘12) and Aaron Gendron (‘11) were also victorious at #3 doubles, winning 8-3.

Gustavus-Adolphus College (Minn.), ranked #28 in the nation, needed to win five of six singles matches in order to win the match and keep their historic grip over the Norse, but couldn’t get it done.

Rijal grabbed a 6-2, 6-3 win at #3 singles over Tyler Johnson and Mateski followed with a 6-4, 6-4 win at #5 singles over Krishan Jethwa.

That was all the Norse would need.

After winning his first set 6-0, Sundstrom dropped consecutive sets 1-6, 1-6 at #1 singles to Amrik Donkena.

Whitely, Busch and Gendron also lost singles matches at #2, #4 and #6, respectively.

Head Coach Brian Huinker thought his team played well in the high-pressure match.

“[The team] has been paralyzed at times this season by high expectations,” he said. “They played hard and won.”

Luther has had a tradition of playing Gustavus for the past 30 years and have never beaten them at full-strengh. According to former Coach Rich Leake, the Norse defeated the Gusties’ “B” team in the 1970s.

The Norse have fallen to Gustavus five times since Luther’s current senior class arrived on campus, three of which were season-ending losses at the national tournament.

The win was exceptionally special for the seniors.

“They have excelled in the classroom and the court,” Huinker said. “If we win Thursday, they will have gone 40-0 in the league for their careers at Luther and won four conference championships.”

On May 2, the Norse defeated UW-Eau Claire 6-3 and Elmhurst 9-0.

With two singles victories in those matches and the victory against Gustavus, Rijal now has 65 career singles victories just five shy of becoming the winnigest singles player in Norse history.