MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team recorded its fourth win in a row with a 7-2 victory over Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) foe Hamline University on Thursday at InnerCity Tennis.
St. Olaf (5-4, 3-2 MIAC) nearly took a 3-0 lead after doubles, but Hamline (5-10, 1-4 MIAC) won a tiebreaker at No. 1 doubles to go into singles trailing by just a point. After the teams split the first two singles match to finish, the Oles won the final four matches on court to pull away for the 7-2 win and claim their 15th victory in the last 16 meetings in the series dating back to 2007.
Sophomores
Jerusalem Thao and
Lorenzo Cazzamali teamed up for a win at No. 3 doubles and each picked up singles victories to account for three of St. Olaf's seven points.
In doubles, junior
Henry Smith and sophomore
Max Loesch recorded an 8-3 victory at the second spot – their fourth-straight win as a pairing – and the first-time pairing of Thao and Cazzamali followed with an 8-6 win at the third spot to put the Oles up, 2-0. The Pipers halved their deficit by winning a tiebreaker, 7-4, at No. 1 doubles to avoid being swept in doubles.
Senior
Tim Roback pushed St. Olaf's lead to 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 4 singles to extend his winning streak to four, but Hamline answered with a straight-set victory at No. 2 singles to get back within a point.
The Oles won each of the next three matches to finish in super tiebreakers to wrap up the victory. Sophomore
Ben Anderson moved to 3-0 in MIAC play by rallying from a set down for a 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (10-2) win at No. 5 singles before Cazzamali secured the team result with a 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6) triumph at No. 1 singles.
Like Roback, senior
Tony Klagge ran his singles winning streak to four matches, coming back from dropping the first set to win a marathon super tiebreaker, 15-13. Thao picked up his first MIAC singles win of the season with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles in the final match on court.
St. Olaf heads across town to take on regionally-ranked Carleton on Wednesday, April 20 at 4:30 p.m.