Men’s tennis serves up weekend series split
Augustana’s men’s tennis team split its weekend series against Northwest Missouri State University and Mount Marty University on April 20-21, facing defeat in Missouri and a sweeping victory at Huether Tennis Centre in Sioux Falls.
The Vikings faced a quick turnaround for their Sunday afternoon victory against the Mount Marty Lancers (11-5). Augustana celebrated senior day in Sioux Falls with its lone senior Meg Siritaworachan and a 7-0 victory over the Lancers.
“Knowing that it was Meg’s last match, it was an emotional day, and it’s awesome that we were able to pull the win out with him one final time,” sophomore Clayton Poppenga said.
In No. 3 singles, Siritaworachan defeated Lancer sophomore Jose Andrade, 6-2, 2-0, and his team kept pace.
In No. 5 singles, Poppenga defeated Liuis Canier, 6-1, 6-1. No. 6 junior Joseph Plachy defeated Lancer sophomore Ignacio Gomez, 6-2, 6-1, and No. 1 junior Henry Dornbusch defeated Lancer junior Alexander Makarov, 6-0, 6-0.
“It was a good match for me. I was serving really well, and felt like I was in control of the match,” Dornbusch said. “I stayed aggressive throughout the match and didn’t give him any opportunities to play his game, so I’m really happy with the way I performed out there.”
The Vikings’ freshman players counted wins in the singles, as well. No. 4 Jose Velasco defeated Lancers sophomore Medina Gonzalo, 6-0, 6-1, and No. 2 Thomas Kano defeated the Lancers’ Pablo Rivert, 6-1, 6-0.
“We're always a tough team, I think, with the fact that we're going to be fighting and we're not going to give up, and that's something I love to see from the guys,” head coach Marc Kurtz said.
In the doubles, Augustana continued its winning ways with all three matches going to the Vikings. No. 2 freshman Sebastian Garcia and Velasco defeated Makarov and Gonzalo, 6-1. No. 3 Poppenga and Siritaworachan defeated Canier and Gomez, 6-3. No.1 Dornbusch and Kano defeated Andrade and Rivert, 6-2.
“Senior day always has some pressure to it,” Dornbusch said. “For us, it was the last match of the season, and we all wanted to end on a happy note. Overall the team did great out there. We didn’t give them an inch, and it was a great way to close out the season.”
The Vikings struggled on Saturday, April 20, in a 6-1 loss to the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats (13-6) in Maryville, Missouri.
The Vikings started off strong with a Dornbusch victory in No.1 singles over senior Michael Delebois, 6-4, 6-4. After that match, things started to unravel, as No. 2 Siritaworachan fell to senior Mason Meier, 1-6, 2-6. No. 3 Kano fell to senior Rafa Bednarczuk, 0-6, 6-1, 2-6. Velasco, Poppenga and Plachy also fell in the singles.
Things got closer in the doubles as No.1 Dornbusch and Kano fell to Delebois and Piranomonte, 6-7. No. 2 Garcia and Siritaworachan fell to Rodrigues and Bednarczuk, 3-6. No. 3 Poppenga and Velasco fell to Meier and Sanchez, 4-6.
“Missouri has a very strong men's team, and they've historically been pretty strong,” Kurtz said. “We started out with doubles, and doubles was actually very competitive with all three doubles matches, very close. We didn't win, but we were very close on all three of them.”
The Vikings finished the season 6-10 and 0-4 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association conference and are looking to get stronger for next year.
“I expect that we’ll be an even stronger team next year,” Kurtz said. “The main thing now for the guys is to kind of rest up a little bit here at the start of the summer and then towards the end of the summer to ramp up their training and do some tournaments, play some matches, things like that to be match ready for the fall.”
