Westmont College, ranked No. 8 in the NAIA, dropped a tight 5-4 GSAC men’s tennis match to No. 10 Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday at the Warriors’ courts. Westmont falls to 1-3 overall and 1-2 in conference while the Sea Lions improve to 7-0, 4-0.
The GSAC is comprised of eight schools, six of which are ranked in the top 10 of the NAIA.
“I think it was the most or second most intense match that I have experienced in my year-and-a-half of coaching,” said Westmont head coach Mark Basham. “It was very vocal, very intense and a bit contentious. There were close line calls and the umpire was definitely getting used. The crowd was very intense, but in a good way.”
“They are better this year and I think we are a little bit better too,” said Basham. “I will be eager for them to come to Santa Barbara and battle with them. They are a good team and I think we are even with them this year.”
The Warriors came up with only one doubles victory, winning on the number one court where Carlos Lima and Lukas Zielen defeated Joel Myers and CK Ensley 9-8.
“We were very fortunate to win with Carlos and Lukas at number one,” said Basham. “It was just a battle. We were down and out in that match but came back and won it in a cliff hanger. We could have been up 2-1 in doubles, but we also could have been down 3-0.”
Things went the opposite way on the number two court where Bryan Cox and Time Goranson lost to Point Loma’s Tyler Bowman and Diego Tavera by the same 9-8 score after having had match point.
At number three, Angel Tavera and DJ Jaehnig defeated Westmont’s Kent Stormans and Tiago Hayashi 8-1.
The Sea Lions took a 2-1 lead into singles action, meaning the Warriors would have to win on four of six courts to claim the victory. Point Loma stretched their advantage to 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-0 win by Michael Zablan over Seth Grotelueshen on number six.
The Warriors evened the score at three-all when Goranson defeated Ensley at number three (6-2, 7-5) and Hayashi defeated Tavera at number four (6-1, 7-5). Point Loma retook the lead when Jaehnig defeated Zielen at No. 5 by a score of 6-2, 6-3. So, it all came down to the number one and two courts.
“It looked like Carlos was going to win in straight sets,” said Basham about the number one court where Lima was battling Bowman, “but he ended up being down match point himself before winning 7-5 in the third. That got us to four-all.”
Meanwhile, at number two, Cox was squaring off with Myers.
“Bryan had been up decisively in the first set and the first half of the second. I thought we were going to win at one through four,” said Basham.
It was not to be, however. After falling 6-2 in the first set, Myers rallied and won the second set 7-5 and then the third 6-3.
#10 Point Loma def. #8 Westmont 5-4
Singles
#1 – Carlos Sachs Cirne Lima (WC) def. Tyler Bowman (PLNU) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
#2 – Joel Myers (PLNU) def. Bryan Cox (WC) 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
#3 – Tim Goranson (WC) def. KC Ensley (PLNU) 6-2, 7-5
#4 – Tiago Hayashi (WC) def. Diego Tavera (PLNU) 6-1, 7-5
#5 – DJ Jaehnig (PLNU) def. Lukas Zielen (WC) 6-2, 6-3
#6 – Michael Zablan (PLNU) def. Seth Grotelueschen (WC) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
#1 – Lukas Zielen / Carlos Sachs Cirne Lima (WC) def. Joel Myers/KC Ensley (PLNU) 9-8
#2 – Tyler Bowman /Diego Tavera (PLNU) def. Bryan Cox / Tim Goranson (WC) 9-8
#3 – Angel Tavera /DJ Jaehnig (PLNU) def. Kent Stormans / Tiago Hayashi (WC) 8-1
