ROCHESTER/OWATONNA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team went 1-2 over a busy three-match weekend, splitting matches against UW-Eau Claire and Wartburg College on Saturday before being edged by the College of St. Scholastica on Sunday.

To start the weekend, St. Olaf (2-4, 0-2 MIAC) fell by a 9-0 score to UW-Eau Claire (4-2) before earning a 6-3 victory over Wartburg (3-9) in back-to-back matches in Rochester. On Sunday, the Oles won two of the three doubles matches before St. Scholastica (4-3, 2-3 MIAC) rallied in singles to claim the 5-4 victory.

UW-Eau Claire 9, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

The Blugolds dropped just eight games over the three doubles matches and got five of their six singles victories in straight sets. The lone singles match to go the distance came at No. 6 singles where first year David Azcona bounced back from dropping the first set to win the second, only to fall in the super tiebreaker, 10-6.

St. Olaf 6, Wartburg 3 | Box Score

St. Olaf got out to a lead in doubles by picking up victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots before Wartburg won a close match at No. 1 doubles to make it 2-1. In singles, the Knights knotted the score at 2-2 with a win at the No. 6 spot, but the Oles won the next three matches to finish to secure the team victory.

In doubles, first year Henry Kruse and senior Henry Smith recorded an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles and sophomore Joao Costa and junior Jerusalem Thao earned an 8-6 victory at No. 3 doubles for the Oles. Wartburg closed out an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles to close the gap going into singles.

With the team score tied at 2-2, Smith, junior Lorenzo Cazzamali, and first year Bogdan Vizoli strung together straight-set victories at the top-three singles spots to give St. Olaf the necessary five point. Smith eased to a 6-1, 6-2 triumph at No. 3 singles, Cazzamali registered a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles, and first year Bogdan Vizoli added the clinching point with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 2 singles.

Junior Karsten Johnson added a 6-0, 3-6, 10-8 win at No. 5 singles in the lone singles match to go the distance.

St. Scholastica 5, St. Olaf 4 | Box Score

In their return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play, the Oles carried a 2-1 lead into singles, but the Saints used their depth to claim four singles victories to pull out a 5-4 victory. Vizoli and Kruse were victorious in both singles and doubles for St. Olaf.

The tandems of Smith/Kruse and Cazzamali/Vizoli both won by 8-5 margins at the top-two doubles spots to give the Oles the early lead, but St. Scholastica claimed an 8-6 win at No. 3 doubles to make it just 2-1 going into singles.

After St. Scholastica won the first two singles matches to finish to go ahead, Vizoli knotted the score at 3-3 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles, but the Saints wrapped up the team result with wins at the No. 6 and No. 1 flights. In the final match on court, Kruse came back from a set down to outlast Carter Anderson by a 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 scoreline and claim his first collegiate dual-match singles victory.

St. Olaf continues MIAC play on Friday, Feb. 24 with a 6:30 p.m. match against Bethel University at Rogers Tennis Club.