The UM-St. Louis men's tennis team finished their season this weekend with a fourth place finish at the conference tournament. The finish is one position lower than the last three years. Coach Rick Gyllenborg was pleased with the effort, despite not reaching the Regional Tournament.
"I think we did well considering what we went through this year. We lost several players and had some injuries, but we played anyway. Next year our players are returning and we will have some new faces, so we hope to rebuild," Gyllenborg said.
On the first day of competition at the Conference Tournament the Rivermen defeated foe SIU-Edwarsville 5-3 in a closely contested match. Stephen Pobst and Mike Schaaf won at number one doubles 8-5, but the Rivermen dropped number two and three doubles by scores of 8-3 and 8-1, respectively. Down 2-1 after doubles the Rivermen had to win four of the six singles matches to get the win - which they managed to do.
The Rivermen only dropped one match in singles, a 6-2, 6-3 loss by Schaaf at two. After Francis Lam, Stephen Pobst, and Max Bugner had all won, the match was 4-3 in the Rivermen's advantage with Raj Saini and Ryan Burgdorfer still playing. Burgdorfer proved to be the Rivermen's deciding match, winning 7-5, 7-5.
The win over SIU-Edwardsville sent the Rivermen into the semifinals against powerhouse University of Southern Indiana. USI proved to be too much for the Rivermen with a 5-0 shutout. Despite the total score, the Rivermen did not lack opportunties. At number one doubles Schaaf and Pobst were up 6-2 before losing 9-8, and Bugner and Burgdorfer were tied at 5-5 before falling 8-5. After getting out to a 3-0 lead after doubles, USI finished the Rivermen off by winning only one singles match, a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Burgdorfer. The fifth win came from a default by Raj Saini, who was unable to play due to severe shin splints.
On April 16 the Rivermen played for third place against Northern Kentucky University. The match was closely contested throughout, and there were plenty of opportunities to win by both teams before NKU pulled out the 5-2 victory.
The Rivermen had an advantage after doubles. Pobst and Schaaf won 8-6 at one and Lam and Saini won 8-4 at three, giving the team a 2-1 lead going into singles. The positioning was perfect for the Rivermen, who won the top two singles matches after losing all three doubles in the two teams' earlier outing. The singles this time, however, were very different. Lam lost 6-4, 6-4 at number one and Schaaf lost 6-3, 6-4 at number two. The only bright spot in singles was Saini, who was up 6-4, 5-0 when the match was called.
Gyllenborg thought the Rivermen had a chance. "We feel like we could have won today, even considering the setbacks. Mike [Schaaf] and Francis [Lam] won those matches last time, they just couldn't do it today."
Be the first to comment on this article!