No. 12 Point Loma Nazarene paid a visit to the Abbott Tennis Courts to take on the Warriors of Westmont on Thursday afternoon and left with a narrow 5-4 victory.
“It is always tough to walk away from a 5-4 loss,” said head coach Chris Elwood, “particularly with national rankings at stake. It felt like we are playing on one leg. We’ve got three sprained ankles on the court and today an unfortunate knee injury to Diego which forced him to default. And still we had a chance at this match. I have to feel good about the level we are at.
“At the same time, there are positions in our lineup where guys need to step up,” continued Elwood. “That is two matches in a row where we have lost at one, five and six (singles) and we can’t keep doing that.”
Single were played first with Point Loma Nazarene claiming four of the six matches. Westmont’s wins came at number three and four. On court three, Bryan Cox defeated Travis Albaugh 6-0, 6-1 while at number four Aaron Cooke notched a 6-4, 6-2 win over Landon Hilker.
“Bryan played with sprained his ankle, but had a very strong effort to win handily at singles and doubles,” said Elwood. “We need other performances like that.”
At number two singles, Westmont’s Diego Almeida was forced to retire after suffering a knee injury resulting in a win for Joel Myers. Mattias Neuman lost in a lengthy match at number one to Curt Wheeler by scores of 6-3, 7-5. Kent Stormans, also playing on a sprained ankle, was defeated by Trent Brown 6-2, 6-4 while Ryley Schultz lost to Andy Hong 6-2, 6-3 at number six.
Down 4-2 after the singles match, Westmont needed to win all three doubles matches to earn a victory. Neuman and Cox picked up a Warrior win on court one, defeating Myers and Albaugh 8-2. Another Warrior win came on court three with Stormans and Schultz defeating Jeff Nelson and Josh Nelson 8-5.
But the Warriors lost at number two where Cooke and Arthur Kalayjian, who replaced the injured Almeida, fell 8-3.
“It was great to see Arthur playing again,” said Elwood. “He’s only been practicing three days, after having sprained his ankle over Christmas break. He was rusty but will get better,” said Elwood. “However losing Diego was a big factor. Diego and Aaron have been playing well. That would have been another chance for the point we needed.”
The Warriors will play again on Saturday, February 14 when they host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in a 2:00 p.m. match.
NO. 12 POINT LOMA 5, WESTMONT 4
Singles
#1 – Curt Wheeler (PLNU) def. Hans Mattias Neuman (WC) 6-3, 7-5
#2 – Joel Myers (PLNU) def. Diego Neves De Almeida (WC) 6-0, 2-1 ret.
#3 – Bryan Cox (WC) def. Travis Albaugh (PLNU) 6-0, 6-1
#4 – Aaron Cooke (WC) def. Landon Hilker (PLNU) 6-4, 6-2
#5 – Trent Brown (PLNU) def. Kent Stormans (WC) 6-2, 6-4
#6 – Andy Hong (PLNU) def. Ryley Schultz (WC) 6-2, 6-3
Doubles
#1 – Hans Mattias Neuman / Bryan Cox (WC) def. Joel Myers/Travis Albaugh (PLNU) 8-2
#2 – Curt Wheeler /Landon Hilker (PLNU) def. Arthur Kalayjian / Aaron Cooke (WC) 8-3
#3 – Kent Stormans / Ryley Schultz (WC) def. Jeff Nelson/Josh Nelson (PLNU) 8-5
