<th the men’s and women’s tennis teams are coming off of challenging matches, as the MIAC conference tournament looms in the beginning of May. The women suffered their first conference loss to Gustavus Adolphus College last week, despite putting up a fierce fight against the defending conference champions. The Knights lone victory came at first doubles, where the youthful tandem of Kathryn Schmidt ’12 and Erin Gudul ’12 forcefully dominated their competition (emotionally and physically) and came away with a 9-7 victory. The rest of the team did not fare as well, struggling to a 7-1 loss. Schmidt’s match at first singles was not completed due to darkness, which didn’t seem to hinder her jumping up to 4th in the ITA regional rankings in singles.
The men’s team had a better week following their own loss to Gustavus. Though the Knights started slowly against St. Olaf, the freshman threesome of Ben Guzick, Dan Vollman and Peter Dunn prodded the team to a 5-4 win with epic solo performances in singles. Vollman also teamed with Winston Park ’10 to secure Carleton’s only doubles point. Park was the 5th point at fourth singles with a straight set victory.
The Knights, both men and women, play Luther on Bell Field this Saturday. They then travel to Concordia-Moorehead for their first match in the deep north. Only two more weeks of regular season competition remain before the Knights take on the top teams in the MIAC with a spot at Nationals and eternal glory on the line.