ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's tennis team was defeated 9-0 by No. 25-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday at Swanson Tennis Center.

St. Olaf (5-5, 4-2 MIAC) entered the day having won four of its last five matches, but nationally-ranked Gustavus (10-9, 4-0 MIAC) proved to be too much in the Oles' return to conference action. The Gusties swept the three doubles matches and dropped just one set in singles.

The closest margin in the three doubles matches came at No. 3 doubles, as first years Madden Vanderwerf and Daniel Meunier were up an early break, 2-0, before Noah Hakim and Owen Skanse fought back for an 8-5 win for Gustavus.

In singles, first year Lou Smith won the second set of his match at No. 3 singles before going down 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (10-4) in a super tiebreaker. After trailing 5-0 to begin the super tiebreaker, Smith got within two points twice – 5-3 and 6-4 – before Rafael Costa won the final four points for the Gusties.

Sophomore Ryan Birnesser dropped a pair of close sets at No. 6 singles in a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) loss to Ali Derbani. Vanderwerf claimed five games in a 6-3, 6-2 loss to Takura Mhwandagara at No. 4 singles, which was just his second singles loss in 15 matches this season.

St. Olaf will be back in action at Bethel University on Saturday, April 12 at 3:30 p.m.