Wall Street

Men's tennis wins two of three, drops IIAC foe

Date 4/14/2005 12:00 AM | Topic: Sports

The men's tennis team played three matches in 24 hours last weekend and won two.

On Friday afternoon, the Norse fell to Winona State University 4-3, but then came back to beat Central and Nebraska Wesleyan University on Saturday.

"The weekend was successful and I learned a lot about the resilience of our team," said Brian Huinker, Luther head coach. "We lost a match Friday to D II Winona State 3-4 that we should have won. Instead of letting it get us down we came back Saturday morning and won handily against Central."

In the match against Nebraska Wesleyan the men won 5-2.

Jono Martin ('08) defeated Andy Huls at number one singles, breezing through the first set 6-1, and going 6-4 in the second, winning three straight games after being down 4-3.

"The guy I played from Nebraska Wesleyan was a tough guy to play because of his attitude," said Martin. "After playing the doubles match against him and winning 8-2 [with Brad Nelson ('08)] I could tell that he was mentally weak and was already mad. I knew that if I could get on top of him early in the first set that I would be able to win the match if I could stay steady."

Martin not only had to deal with returning Huls's shots and the high wind at the courts on Saturday, but also with Huls himself, who apparently took a course at the Bobby Knight School of Sports Anger Management.

"This guy had a bad temper and was yelling a lot on the court," Martin said. "When my opponent shows his emotions and I can tell that he is mad, I use this to my advantage because I know that if I stay patient and focused and keep the pressure on, he will eventually break down and I will win. Sometimes behavior like that can get distracting but I just try my best to block it out and focus on my game and what I need to do to win."

Bjorn Hanson ('07) also scored a singles victory against Nebraska Wesleyan for Luther, defeating Eric Tesmer 6-3, 6-2 while having to play with a ripped grip.

"The singles match against Wesleyan was a match of patience," Hanson said. "He was a counter-puncher so the less pace I gave him, the better chance I had of winning the point."

Hanson and Alex Lewke ('07) were unable to win at number three singles, however, as they were defeated 8-4 by Tesmer and Nate Anderson.

"The Wesleyan guys played a solid match and took advantage of their game points better than we did," Hanson said. "It was as simple as that."

The Wesleyan match was the final match of the three the Norse played over the weekend, so it involved emotion as well as tired muscles.

"I was happy with the way we played after an emotional win against Central," Huinker said. "It is hard to get your focus back after accomplishing a major goal an hour earlier."

The men made quick work of Central, dropping the rival Dutch 6-1.

"Beating Central was one of our biggest wins of the season," Martin said. "They are one of our conference rivals, along with Coe, so it was nice to beat them convincingly. We play Coe Tuesday, April 19 and that will be a very important match. Coe beat Central a few weeks ago, so by us beating Central sends a message to Coe that we are not going down without a fight.

"I think that we have a very good chance against Coe, this team is young but we play with a lot of heart and determination and refuse to quit."

Luther holds a 4-0 conference record, while Coe's is 3-0.

Huinker was also enthusiastic about the win over Central, and looked forward to the match against Coe.

"They [Central] beat us twice last year and have a better team this year," he said. "We were very competitive and they just couldn't match our intensity. We have to gear up for the most important home match that we have had in the last 4 years against Coe."

Before the home match against Coe on Tuesday, the Norse have three matches here on Saturday. They play Buena Vista at 8 a.m., Loras at noon and Lawrence University (Wis.) at 4 p.m.

"We are looking to rest up to start the week and come out strong as the weekend approaches," Hanson said. "Three meets in a day will be tough, but if we play good tennis we should win all of our matches."

--

Jon Nelson

[ Comment, Edit or Article Submission ]