The #10 Westmont men’s tennis team (8-9 overall, 7-3 GSAC) took on the undefeated #4 Lions of Vanguard University (20-0, 10-0 GSAC) on Tuesday. It was going to be an uphill battle for the Warriors from the start, but despite the eventual 8-1 Vanguard win, Westmont gave the Lions a run for their money.
They kicked off the match with singles play. On court one Carl-Philip Lindqvist battled it out with Stefan Kilchhofer who ended with scores of 6-2, 6-0. Joshua Barnard, the lone Westmont senior, took the court against Lion senior Fabio Silva. It was a very heated match as Barnard fought for a final singles win on his home tennis court. In front of a crowd of friends and family here to support him on senior day, Barnard rallied hard back and forth with the former Frenso Pacific player. Despite the effort put out by Joshua, Silva proved to be a tennis machine and walked away with a 6-2, 6-2 win this afternoon.
On court number three, Jan Sibbel faced off against Vanguard’s Roger Muri who came away with a 6-4, 6-3 win over the Warriors. The match on court four between Christian Mathis and Daymon Johnson was the longest singles match of the day. They played each other point for point for what seemed like an eternity, until Mathis was able to capitalize on his opportunity and won the match 6-4, 3-6, 10-8, giving the Warriors their only- yet hard earned- victory of the day.
Tommy Nightingale was defeated by Filip Burnac with scores of 6-3, 6-4 in the fifth singles position while Travis Smelley was defeated 6-0, 6-4 by his Lion opponent on court six.
As if singles were not already difficult enough, the Warriors rallied going into doubles play. There was an evident look of determination in their eye as each duo took the court. Unfortunately, Vanguard won the first doubles match by default to give them an easy point on the day. On court number two, Jan Sibbel and Christian Mathis (who hold a record of 7-8 in this position) took the court against Silva and Muri. In a very intense match with many well-earned points on both sides of the net, the Lions capped off their second doubles win of the day with a score of 8-4.
Court number three proved to be just as intense as Nightingale and Smelley balled out against Burnac and Rjazanov. The four competitors were flying all over the court, making big play after big play. Eventually, the Lions finished off the Warriors with an 8-6 final doubles win and a total team score of 8-1.
With this, Westmont wraps up their home matches for the season. The men will play again on Friday April 3 down south against Pomona-Pitzer at 4pm.
