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“We just have really good chemistry on the court,” said Gust. “We’ve always played really well together.”

At least that much is not in question. The team of Bothun/Gust does not show signs of slowing down or stopping, despite the fact that they are no longer playing beneath the hot Florida sun.

Both Andrea Eilertson and Bothun/Gust went into spring break undefeated, but after facing some of the toughest competition they will come up against all year, only Bothan and Gust were able to return home with their unbeaten record intact. The two were able to best an opponent from Calvin College, which has one of the best womens tennis programs in the nation for a school of its size.

“In my twenty years as a coach I’ve never had a team go 10 and 0 in womens [tennis],” said team head coach Dan Haertl.

The Calvin womens tennis program traditionally enjoys a comfortable rank in the top 10 or 20 D-III schools in the nation, and has seen early success this season despite the loss of six veteran players to graduation last year. Stephanie England and Trina Ellis were also able to take a match off of Calvin in the third doubles spot, bringing Hamline’s tally to 2-7, the team’s second-best showing of the week. The women were unable to muster a single team win during their trip, but the men gave their best spring break showing in recent history.

The men defeated five out of their six opponents, four of them by seven points or more. They won in all six singles slots and all three doubles matches for clean sweeps against both Onadaga and Otterbein college’s.

With a strong head of steam coming off the two straight shutouts the Pipers were set to play Calvin College. Unfortunately, the team lost in eight of its nine positions for a devastating defeat. The team managed to rally after the loss, soundly defeating Illinois Wesleyan and Babson 8-1 in each match, and pulling out a 5-4 victory over Grinnell.

“We’ve never been five and one. We’ve been around two and three or three and two in the past, but we’ve never accomplished something like this,” said Haertl. “The entire team is very responsible, and they really want to do well.”

Junior Andy Carlson brought his record 10-3 on the season by going 5-0 over spring break; he was the only Piper able to pick up a win against Calvin. He was the only member of the team to go undefeated for the week in singles competition. Carlson did lose two doubles matches alongside partner Jon Breimhorst, but in both cases the mens team was able to take the win.

“It was a very good week, and it was tough to come back from,” said Haertl.

But as all trips must, this spring break road trip had to come to an end, and the Pipers had to make their return to Hamline. While the team had to deal with a change of climate on the return trip home, the same rough competition of regional play was waiting for them.