Match Summary vs. Gustavus

ST. PETER, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's tennis coach Jeff Halberg knew what his Cardinals were up against Saturday afternoon.

And, unfortunately for SMU, Gustavus didn't disappoint, as the Gusties — who have not dropped a conference match since 1989 — cruised to a 9-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Cardinals.

“Gustauvs is a great team, a team that no one in the conference has been able to knock off for a long, long time,” said Halberg. “We put up a good fight — several of the matches were highly competitive — (Gustavus) was just too tough.”

Pawel Szczepkowski (Opolskie, Poland) gave GAC's Ashok Jethwa all he could handle at No. 1 singles, before falling 7-6, 6-1, while David Reckase (La Crosse, Wis.) took Kristan Jethwa to a third set at No. 3 singles, only to come out on the short end of a 6-0, 6-7, 10-8 decision.

That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as the Gusties won the other four singles matches in straight sets, losing just seven games, while also dropping just five games in sweeping the three doubles matches.

“I'm happy with the way we played, I thought there was some really good tennis played out there,” Halberg said. “It's tough going up against a team as talented as (Gustavus), but I thought our guys were up to the challenge and did a nice job.”