The No. 11 University of Redlands men's tennis team capped off a busy weekend with an epic battle against the 16th-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College on Sunday.   While playing in front of the Gusties' home crowd at the Swanson Tennis Center, the Bulldogs faced an energized foe in the consolation championship of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Indoor Championships in Saint Peter, MN.  With incredibly tight scores that included four three-setters, Redlands came up short by a misleading score of 1-5.

After Gustavus Adolphus earned the first doubles point at No. 3, the Maroon and Gray evened the tally with an 8-4 win at the top slot by senior Joey Dulle (St. Louis, MO) and sophomore Brad Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA).  However, the Gusties managed to edge out the Bulldogs in a tiebreaker at No. 2 to regain the lead at 2-1.

In singles, GAC kept things in its favor with straight-set wins at Nos. 1 and 4, but Redlands was not going away easily in the remainder of the matches. 

Trailing 1-4, the Maroon and Gray needed to win all four matches to complete an incredible comeback.  First-year Cameron Krimbill (Scottsdale, AZ), Dulle, and Cummins each registered an opening-set win to keep hope alive for the Bulldogs.  Nonetheless, the Gusties answered right back by forcing a third set in all three matches. 

On the other hand, first-year Brysl Libao (Redlands, CA) also headed into a third set after winning the second.

With all four matches in the third set, the team score really could have gone either way.

However, GAC managed to secure the final point before the others finished, sending Redlands home with a deceiving 1-5 loss.

Redlands (5-3) returns to California for its own version of "March Madness," which includes six nationally-ranked opponents among the 10 matches at home during the month.  First, the Bulldogs take on the No. 29 University of Mary Washington (VA) on Wednesday, March 7, at 2 p.m.