The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's tennis team fell to Gustavus Adolphus College 5-0 in the second round of the NCAA Division III Men's Tennis Championship Tournament on the Brown Tennis Courts in Saint Peter, Minnesota Saturday.  UW-W, ranked twenty-seventh in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll, ends the season 20-8.  Gustavus, now 29-5 and ranked fourteenth, will face the winner of a later match between Trinity (TX) and Grinnell College Sunday for the right to advance to the final eight May 19-21 in Claremont, California.  Gustavus, the top seed in the regional, and Whitewater both earned byes into the second round.

UW-W men's tennis NCAA tourney site

box score

Gustavus got off to a quick start, although Whitewater put up a fight.  The GAC duo of May Smith-Dennis and Matasem Al-Houni edged Whitewater's Jake Humphreys (Kenosha/Tremper) and Byron Balkin (Madison/Memorial),8-6.  The duos came into the match tied for fourth in the ITA Central Region doubles rankings.  At flight two Joe MacGibbon and Juan Luis Chu of Gustavus were extended by Ben Shklyar (Deerfield, IL/Deerfield) and Martin Beck (Minneapolis/South), 9-7.  Marcel Gyswyt and Andres Saenz Hoyo of Gustavus Adolphus narrowly defeated Kevin Friend (Deerfield, IL/Deerfield) and Cam Laktash (Crystal Lake, IL/South) 8-6 in flight three doubles to put the Golden Gusties up 3-0 after doubles play.

Flight five singles finished next, with Brad Entwistle making it 4-0 Gustavus with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Laktash.  The fifth, and deciding point, came at three singles where MacGibbon was extended by Balkin in the first set, 7-6 (7-4) and then 6-3.  NCAA tournament competition ends when a majority score is reached.

The final score is misleading, not only because of the close doubles matches, but considering the four unfinished singles matches.  Humphreys, playing at number one, split the first two sets with Chu, each winning 6-3, with the score 1-0 Chu in the third.  Humphreys is ranked second in the ITA Central Region and Chu is tenth.  At number two singles, where GAC's Smith-Dennis is ranked 15th, Shklyar also forced a split of the first two sets and trailed just 2-1 in the third.  And at flight four, Whitewater's R. Rajshekhar Raman was also 1-1 in sets and led in the third 3-2, while at number five Brian Klein (Brookfield/East) and Al-Houni both had won a set and Al-Houni was up 3-2 in the third.

UW-W lost to Gustavus Adolphus 7-2 on a neutral court indoors March 2.  The Golden Gusties, who hold a 21-2 lead in the all-time series, also knocked UW-W out of the NCAA tournament last year by a 5-3 score. 

UW-Whitewater was making its eighth consecutive NCAA championship tournament appearance.  The Warhawks advanced to the sweet sixteen in 2011.

The 2013-14 season is not over for UW-W men's tennis.  Earlier this week it was announced that Jake Humphreys (Kenosha/Tremper) earned a berth in the NCAA III singles tournament, and Byron Balkin (Madison/Memorial) will join Humphreys in the doubles competition.  Individual play will follow team play May 22-24 in Claremont, California.