WINONA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team registered its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) victory of the season by downing Saint Mary's University, 8-1, on Saturday afternoon at Winona Tennis Center.
St. Olaf (4-5, 1-3 MIAC) extended its winning streak in the series with Saint Mary's (7-6, 0-3 MIAC) to five matches by sweeping the three doubles matches and picking up five singles victories in the 8-1 triumph. First year
Bogdan Vizoli, senior
Henry Smith, first year
Henry Kruse, junior
Jerusalem Thao, and junior
Jakub Belik were all victorious in both singles and doubles for the Oles.
In doubles, St. Olaf got out to a commanding 3-0 lead by winning all three matches by at least three games. In their first matches as tandems, Belik and classmate
Karsten Johnson put the first point on the board with an 8-4 victory at No. 3 doubles over a previously-undefeated duo before Kruse and Thao – another first-time pairing – recorded an 8-5 win at the second spot. Smith and Vizoli finished off the sweep with an 8-5 victory to move to 3-1 this season.
Four of the Oles' five singles victories came in straight sets, as the teams split the two matches that went to super tiebreakers. Kruse, Smith, and Vizoli all dropped just six games apiece in their straight-set victories at the top-three spots, as Vizoli – the reigning MIAC Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week – picked up his fifth victory in a row and Kruse ran his winning streak to three matches. Vizoli's 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles was his team-leading sixth singles victory of the season.
Belik earned his first MIAC win of the season by closing out his match at No. 5 singles in a second-set tiebreaker, claiming a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Brendon Raabolle. After dropping a first-set tiebreaker, Thao fought back for a 6-7 (3-7), 6-3, 10-5 win over Matt Besek at No. 6 singles for his third consecutive triumph.
St. Olaf hits the road again next weekend to take on Saint John's University on Saturday, March 18 at 1 p.m. at Sta-Fit in Sartell.
