MOBILE, Ala. — Eighth-ranked Westmont Men’s Tennis validated their national ranking by claiming a berth in the quarterfinals of the NAIA National Tournament. Westmont posted a 5-4 win over the tenth-ranked Yellowjackets of Graceland (Iowa) in a second round match. Tomorrow, Westmont will play a familiar foe in top-ranked Fresno Pacific. The match is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. CDT.
Mattias Neuman and Diego Almeida started off strong at number two doubles, defeating Yassir El Ghazzi and Jeremy Ackerer 8-2 to give the Warriors an early 1-0 lead. However, things were not going as well for the Warriors in the other doubles matches.
“I was concerned that we were going to be down 2-1 in doubles because Bryan (Cox) and Carlos (Lima) were down a break and it was looking suspect,” said Westmont Head Coach Mark Basham about his number one team. “But Carlos, with all his leadership as a two-year All-American, is a really great doubles player, especially when he is playing his game. He set the tone and Bryan was there to follow suit.”
Cox and Lima rallied from a 6-3 deficient to win the next five games and claim an 8-6 win over Remy Caffardo and Daniel Ramierz.
“We got a little bit of time together reading the match,” said Lima. “(Our opponents) had played one match before and had finished their match this morning. So they were more use to the conditions and to the balls. But during the match we found a way to return the serves and play our best tennis. We were very pumped up in the end and we put more energy into the match.”
The Yellowjackets kept the match close with Carlos Yanes and Kai Drwecki earning an 8-4 win over Arthur Kalayjian and Tiago Hayashi at number three doubles.
Most of the singles matches seemed to be going the Warriors way early on with Westmont winning the first set on four of the six courts. But the match would prove to be closer than the early returns would indicate.
First off the court was Neuman, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ramirez at number five. On the number one court, however, Lima suffered a 6-4, 6-3 loss to Caffardo, making the score 3-2 in favor of the Warriors.
On the number four court, Almeida won the first set 6-2 over Drwecki but then fell 4-6 in the second set to force a third set. Kalayjian had a similar match going on court number six, winning 6-2 over Manuel Lindekell in the opening frame but then falling 6-3 in the second to even the score at one set apiece.
Meanwhile, Cox and Hayashi were battling on courts two and three respectively with both first sets going to a tiebreaker. Cox won the first set against El Ghazzi by posting a 7-6 (4) victory, but Hayashi lost 7-6 (5) to Yanes.
“I started off slow and was down a break early,” said Cox. “I decided to dig myself back into the match. I was trying to put a lot of balls in play and as I did that, I got myself into a tiebreak. I was able to pick up my level of play and pretty much dominated the tiebreak.”
With courts two and three in their second set and courts three and six in their third, rain began to fall and the match was suspended. The two teams huddled under different canopies to try and avoid the rain. Though the rain was clearly localized, the amount of rain was significant and it looked like the match could be delayed about two hours.
Tournament officials made the decision to move the unfinished matches from the Mobile Tennis Center to the Medal of Honor Park where the Warriors had practiced on Tuesday morning. Though only about four miles away as the crow flies, the rained had avoided those courts.
Despite the relative proximity, travel between the two locations came just after five o’clock local time and rush hour traffic made it a half-hour trip.
When play finally resumed, the Warriors knew they would need to win on two of the remaining four courts to advance in the national tournament. Cox was down 4-3 but was next to serve.
“In the second set, I was down a break again but got the break back early,” said Cox. “When we switched sites, I tried to be really focused and came out and won those three games.”
That put the Warriors up 4-2, but it would be very short lived with both Hayashi and Kalayjian losing their final sets in short order. Hayashi fell 6-2 in the second set while Kalayjian lost 6-1 in the third set.
With the match even at four, attention turned to court number four where Drwecki was rallying. Down 4-1 in the third set when play was suspended, the Graceland player had pulled to within one at 5-4. But Almeida held serve to claim the 6-4 win and give Westmont the victory.
“We are all very happy about winning,” said Lima. “It was a very tough match, which makes us happier than if it had been an easy win. Tomorrow we will play and see if we can upset the number one seed.”
NAIA National Tournament Round 2, #8 Westmont def #10 Graceland (Iowa) 5-4
Singles
#1 – Remy Caffardo (GU) def. Carlos Sachs Cirne Lima (WC) 6-4, 6-3
#2 – Bryan Cox (WC) def. Yassir El Ghazzi (GU) 7-6 (4), 6-4
#3 – Carlos Yanes (GU) def. Tiago Hayashi (WC) 7-6 (5), 6-2
#4 – Diego Neves De Almeida (WC) def. Kai Drwecki (GU) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
#5 – Hans Mattias Neuman (WC) def. Daniel Ramirez (GU) 6-2, 6-1
#6 – Manuel Lindekell (GU) def. Arthur Kalayjian (WC) 2-6, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles
#1 – Carlos Sachs Cirne Lima / Bryan Cox (WC) def. Remy Caffardo/Daniel Ramierz (GU) 8-6
#2 – Diego Neves De Almeida / Hans Mattias Neuman (WC) def. Yassir El Ghazzi/Jeremy Ackerer (GU) 8-2
#3 – Carlos Yanes /Kai Drwecki (GU) def. Arthur Kalayjian / Tiago Hayashi (WC) 8-4
