Men's tennis narrowly defeated by Luther

Michael Abdella
April 16, 2011

OWATONNA, Minn.- The St. Olaf men's tennis team had their four match win streak snapped by Luther, who defeated the Oles 5-4 Saturday afternoon at Owatonna Indoor Tennis Center.

Playing indoors due to inclement weather, the Oles swept the three doubles matches to get off to a perfect start. Winning for St. Olaf were the teams of Knute Gundersen and Will Mitchell, John Wight and Andy Catania, and Ryan Abdella and Charlie Reinertsen. The wins were the fifth straight for Wight and Catania and the third straight for Abdella and Reinertsen.

After the doubles sweep, the Oles dropped five of the six singles matches, including three super tie-breakers, as Luther earned the win. Catania was the lone singles winner for St. Olaf as he came back from losing the first set 6-1 to win in a super tie-breaker. Gundersen and Wight suffered close straight-set defeats at first and second singles. Reinertsen, John Foss, and Mitchell each won the first sets of their matches but could not manage to win their super tie-breakers.

Oles look to bounce back on Wednesday afternoon as they host archrival Carleton at Carlson Tennis Courts starting at 4 p.m.

Contact media relations specialist Mike Ludwig at (507) 786-3834 or ludwigm@stolaf.edu.