The men’s tennis team picked up 10 singles victories at the Drake Invitational Friday through Sunday. The Huskies were lead by senior Georg Lundkvist who reached the No. 2 singles semifinals.
Lundkvist won his first two matches en route to the semifinals. He opened with a win (6-7, 6-4, 10-3) over Annie Laska of North Dakota and then defeated Gustavus’s Chase Johnson (7-5, 6-1) in his quarterfinal match. In the semifinals, Lundkvist lost (6-4, 6-7, 10-5) to Stratton Brown of Creighton giving the senior a 4-2 record in singles fall play.
Junior Eric Schuette also reached the semifinals in singles at No. 4. He opened with a pair of wins (6-2, 6-0) over Mouaad Alhouni of Gustavus and North Dakota’s Nick LaPoint (6-3, 6-0). Schuette then fell (6-3, 6-4) in his semifinal match against Joe Hoff of Creighton.
Senior Louis-Philippe Hamel split his singles matches at No. 1. After opening with a setback against Creighton’s Brooks Kendall in his first round, Hamel bounced back with wins over Barnaby Thorold of Drake (7-5, 6-3) and Northwest Missouri’s Josef Altman (6-7, 7-1, 10-2). He then lost to Abdoul Ouattara of Omaha to finish in fourth place.
Freshman Victor Spolidorio also went 2-2 in his No. 3 singles matches. After falling to Coe College’s Nate Ackert in three sets, Spolidorio picked up victories over Omaha’s Luke Moore (7-6, 6-0) and Gabe Steinwand of Gustavus (6-2, 6-1). He then fell to Creighton’s Alex Koca (6-4, 6-4) to finish fourth.
Lundkvist and redshirt senior Eric Marbach split their pair of No. 1 doubles matches. The duo opened with a victory (6-3) over Johnson and Tommy Entwistle of Gustavus. They then lost their second match against Drake’s Ben Wood and Tom Hands (6-4).
Hamel and senior Tom Hjertonsson also went 1-1 in their doubles matches at at No. 2. After opening with a (6-4) victory over Coe College’s Ackert and Brady Anderson, the pair lost their ensuing match against Daniel Lopez-Ray and Mac Mease of Creighton (6-3).
Redshirt freshman Kristopher Ortega and Spolidorio split their No. 2 doubles matches as well. The pair won its first match over Alhouni and Lawrence Hiquiana of Gustavus (6-4) but fell in their second match (6-3) against Creighton’s Hoff and Michael Koch.
Ortega finished 1-1 in No. 3 singles matches. He earned a win (6-2, 6-1) over Gustavus’s Mike O’Neil in his second match after falling in his first match to Bjoern Kurtze of Northwest Missouri.
Hjertonsson also split his pair of singles matches at No. 3. After falling to Northwest Missouri’s Youseff Sheriff in three sets, Hjertonsson bounced back with a victory over Matt Hokanson of North Dakota (6-0, 7-6).
The Huskies have a break in their schedule before resuming Oct. 19-22 at the ITA Regionals in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
