First-year Tristan Fjelstad serves the ball during his singles match. (Tina O’Malley/TommieMedia)
Fjelstad scores the tie-breaking point after splitting sets, winning his singles match. (Tina O’Malley/TommieMedia)
Coach Lauer speaks to sophomore Tristan Fjelstad during a break after the first set. (Tina O’Malley/TommieMedia)
Sophomore Nick Vossen wins the point after a long rally. (Tina O’Malley/TommieMedia).
Vossen prepares for a deep shot from opposition. (Tina O’Malley/TommieMedia)
Sophomore Jordan Schenck prepares to serve during the final tie breaker. Schenck won his singles match. (Brennan Campbell/TommieMedia)
The St. Thomas men’s tennis team lost 6-3 against the Bethel Royals Saturday at Baseline Tennis Center.
With the loss, the Tommies (4-2 MIAC, 8-5 overall) snapped their two match winning streak, while the Royals (4-3 MIAC, 9-9 overall) snapped their two match losing streak.
The Tommies did not start off well, losing all three doubles matches to fall behind 3-0. The Tommies started to make a comeback when No. 6 singles junior Erich Nuss won his match. It was not enough, as Bethel clinched the victory shortly after. St. Thomas picked up wins from No. 2 singles first-year Tristan Fjelstad and No. 4 singles sophomore Jordan Schenck.
Schenck knew it was important for the team to put the doubles matches behind them as they prepared for singles play.
“We all just put that behind us. We know we can play good doubles; it just wasn’t our day. There were still six points on the board we could have grabbed,” Schenck said.
Coach Lauer was proud of the way his team competed even though they didn’t play their best.
“The team is really resilient to play the way we did singles, especially after losing all three doubles matches,” coach Lauer said.
The Tommies will play against St. John’s on April 14.
Brennan Campbell can be reached at camp3460@stthomas.edu.
Tina O’Malley can be reached at omal4989@stthomas.edu.
Erich is a sophomore.