ST. PETER, Minn. – First year Madden Vanderwerf won the Midwest Open "C" Singles Championship to highlight the St. Olaf College men's tennis team's performances at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships and Midwest Open hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College from Friday through Monday.

Vanderwerf strung together six consecutive singles wins to win the 92-player draw in the Midwest Open "C" Singles Championships. All 10 members of St. Olaf's roster competed in the two tournaments, which featured 31 of the top teams from the region.

After a first-round bye, Vanderwerf recorded four consecutive straight-set victories to move into the semifinals, where he recovered from losing the first set to claim a 2-6, 6-4, 10-8 victory over Kaan MacDonald of Grinnell College to advance to the championship match. In the final, the first year picked up his fifth straight-set win of the weekend by topping Ben Temple of UW-Stevens Point by a 6-2, 6-4 score. Senior David Azcona, first year Mason Ramirez, and first year Lou Smith all picked up multiple victories in the Midwest Open "C" singles draw as well.

Junior Bogdan Vizoli and sophomore Marjan Veldic represented St. Olaf in the ITA Singles Championships, with both Oles falling to competitors from Gustavus in the opening round. Vizoli won the first set of his match against Takura Mhwandagara before going down 10-8 in super tiebreaker, while Veldic dropped a close opening set in a 7-5, 6-2 defeat to Noah Hakim.

Vizoli and Smith teamed for a main-draw doubles win, topping Igor Guetten Chaves and Sharan Kanugovi of UW-Superior by an 8-4 score in the opening round before bowing out to the seeded duo of Rafael Costa and Luke Fridings of Gustavus in round two.

The Oles will host Concordia-Moorhead in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and home opener on Saturday, Oct. 5 in a 12 p.m. joint start with the women's team at Carlson Courts.