SAINT PETER, Minn. -- The University of North Dakota men's tennis team got back into the win column on Saturday morning with a 5-2 win over No. 16 Gustavus Adolphus from the Swanson Tennis Center in Saint Peter, Minn. 

UND (4-3) was able to get off to a good start in doubles play, grabbing a 1-0 lead with a pair of victories on the No. 1 and 3 courts. After the Golden Gusties (0-3) claimed the opening two-man match from the middle spot, Christos Alex and Leo Galliano responded with a 6-4 victory from the No. 3 position before the top pairing of Leandro Zgraggen and Ange-Kevin Koua battled to a 7-6 win to claim the early lead for the visitors. 

"We played a very good doubles point today against a team who plays extremely disciplined, high-level, intelligent doubles," said Head Coach Tom Boysen. "I thought Christos and Leo stepped up in a big way at No. 3 doubles in this match, and our team of Kevin and Leandro were great in the deciding tiebreaker."

Galliano kept his strong rookie season rolling and extended his personal winning streak to five straight with a 6-3, 6-2 win on the No. 3 court to open singles play and extend the UND lead to 2-0 before Koua rolled to a 6-0, 7-6 triumph from the second position to quickly push the advantage to 3-0. 

After Gustavus trimmed the lead to 3-1 on the bottom court, Jayho Hong rallied back from an opening set loss to clinch the match from the No. 5 spot with a 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 win. 

"Singles wasn't pretty in many of the spots in our lineup," said Boysen. "We struggled to expose some things that we should have been able to expose in matches, we played far too many games and points out of our own indentities, and we made life too easy on our opponents for long stretches of the match."

Zgraggen added the fifth point of the day for the Fighting Hawks with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 triumph on the top court before the Golden Gusties closed out the match with a three set win of their own on the No. 4 spot. 

"Gustavus is way too good of a team to have these things come up in several spots and not expect them to cost us," said Boysen. "Fortunately, our men's team is mad eup some of the toughest, stingiest competitors around, and when our backs are against the wall, we know how to fight and we know how to fight well. At the end of the day, finding ways to win matches without your "A" game is a tremendous quality, and I know we have that on our team. 

North Dakota will open the home portion of its schedule next weekend with a pair of matches against Bellarmine beginning on Friday night at 6 p.m. 

For more information on North Dakota men's tennis, follow on social media @UNDmtennis or visit FightingHawks.com.