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Last weekend the Carleton Club Tennis team traveled to Lakeville, MN to attend sectionals, that would deteremine which teams would advance ton Nationals. Carleton entered two teams into the tournament, Carleton A lead by Captains Zach Walsh ’15 and Justin Grossman and Carleton B.
After a day of pool play Carleton teams obeyed Newton’s Third Law, finishing with opposite but equal records, with Carleton A going 3-0 and Carleton B going 0-3.
Carleton A advanced to the Gold Bracket, where they would have to face top seed University of Minnesota A and a chance on Sunday to play for a spot at nationals, while Carleton B advanced to the Bronze Bracket.
In pool play, Carleton A played against University of North Dakota. During men’s doubles, the dynamic duo of Walsh and Grossman played to 4-4 in the tiebreaker, setting up a sudden death winner takes all point.
In the second day of play, Carleton B went undefeated and won their bracket. Meanwhile, Carleton A was occupied with making the finals to capture a spot to nationals.
In an epic semi-finals game against University of Minnesota A, Gabriella Chen ’17 was able to hold her ground against the opposing singles player, not knowing that she was facing a former Minnesota State Champion in singles.
Falling to U of M A, Carleton A played Valley City State University. Prior to playing, only Walsh and Grossman knew that the 3rd place match would decide who would go to nationals; they decided to not share this with the team.
Chen, when asked, said “I’m so glad they never told us because I probably played better not knowing.”
Carleton A won the match 30-11, and clinched a spot to play in nationals. Carleton has only sent a team to nationals once before.