The Luther College men's tennis team qualified for a fifth consecutive NCAA III National Tournament after defeating Coe College 4-1 this afternoon in the championship match of the American Rivers Conference Dual Team Tournament. The title is the 11th for the Norse in the 24-year history of the automatic qualifying tournament.
Luther jumped out to a 1-0 lead after winning two of three doubles matches.
Luke Westholder and
Eli Young won at No. 1 (6-1) and
Juan Hernandez Herrera and
Ricky Portilla won at No. 3 (6-3).
In singles,
Joao Benvenutti gave the Norse a 2-0 lead after posting the first singles match victory. He defeated Ivan Burt-Smith (6-4, 6-0) at No. 2. Westholder added the next Norse point with a win at No. 1 over Bryton Short (6-1, 6-3). Coe's Jumpei Kasai posted the Kohawks lone point with a victory at No. 6 over
Rhys Biro-Moore (6-2, 6-4). Herrera ended the match with a (6-3, 6-2) win over Grant Idoux at No. 4
Box Score
Luther will be making its 12th appearance in the national tournament. The Norse will find out where and who they will be playing in the first round on Monday, May 5 at 11:30 a.m. during the NCAA selection show.
