An unruly and intimidating crowd of over 50 people at The Jungle saw first-year Eric Brandt come back from a 7-5, 3-2 deficit to defeat Alex Petersen 10-5 in the deciding third-set super tiebreaker, giving Macalester a 5-4 win over Bethel in the MIAC season opener.

This season, a 10-point super tiebreaker will be played in place of a third set should the two players split the first two sets. In an incredible turn of events that demonstrated how close the match was, five out of the six singles matches went to third-set tiebreakers.

The Jungle was at fever pitch after the pre-game introductions, and the Scots emerged from the locker room with a “kill-or-be-killed” attitude. Jake “The Snizzake” Depue ’04 and Brandt conquered Petersen and Joe Dutcher at number three doubles with an 8-1 win.

“The Snake abides by one law: The law of The Jungle,” Depue said. “Darwin in the house, survival of the fittest, Eric and the Snake know what’s up.”

David “The Eastern European Exterminator” Yesilevskiy ’03 and J. Silva Mayton ’05 won at number two doubles while R.J. Laukitis ’02 and Senam Ghebo ’04 fell at number one.

Laukitis got the Scots out to a 3-1 lead with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph at number one singles.

All of a sudden, however, the match took a turn for the worse.

Bethel won three consecutive 10-point super tiebreakers to take a 4-3 lead. Depue lost to Anthony Branitski, 6-3, 4-6, (10-7), as the strongest truly survived. Seconds later, Yesilevskiy lost at number three, 3-6, 6-3, (12-10), followed by a 6-7(2), 6-2, (10-8) loss at number four by J. S. Mayton.

The Scots rebounded as Ghebo won a thrilling 6-3, 6-7(3), (10-4) encounter at number five to level the score at 4-4.

The match came down to Brandt, who seemed to be overmatched by Petersen until the insane crowd all congregated to watch the nerve-wracking conclusion of his match. Chants of “E! E! E!” and “Er-ic Bra-andt! Clap, clap, clapclapclap,” and “Macalester! Macalester!” rang out around The Jungle and Petersen lost his grip on the match.

“Our fans act like the animals they are in The Jungle,” Laukitis said.

After Brandt won the final point in the super tiebreaker, the fans and his teammates stormed the court to mob the hero of the day.

The Scots travel to Wisconsin this Saturday to play Wisconsin-Eau Claire and St. Ambrose. Macalester returns home on March 9 to play local rival St. Thomas at The Jungle. The St. Thomas match is tentatively scheduled as Towel Day, where the first 100 fans will receive a free Eberhardt Xtremists towel upon entry. The atmosphere will be even more electric than the Bethel match, and many fans are expected to show up to The Jungle chanting as loud and as much as they can. Pre-game festivities will include a special guest emcee doing player introductions. Fans are encouraged to bring their own signs to the match to support the Scots. Fans may also feel free to bring huge orange beach towels to wave around instead of using their free towels-just like Spike Lee at a Knicks game!