No. 17 Poets hold on for 6-3 victory over No. 23 Kalamazoo

Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's tennis team who lost a tough matchup against No. 1 Amherst yesterday afternoon pulled out a four hour match against the Hornets of Kalamazoo 6-3 who were coming into the match ranked No. 23.

Whittier improves to 7-4, while Kalamazoo drops to 3-7.

The match started off quickly as Whittier took all three doubles positions demonstrating some of their best doubles all season.  At No. 3 the freshman duo of Matthew Herron and Shogo Shimizu continued their success together as they used consistent groundstrokes and precise volleys to grab the first point 8-2. 

At No. 2 the sophomores Andrew Hansen and Chris Schommer fought their way back out of a 3-0 hole to pull off the 8-5 victory. 

Then at No. 1 Julian Seneviratne and Patricio Carregha downed their opponents quickly using big serves and clutch net play to cruise to the 8-3 victory.

Leading 3-0 after doubles the Poets found that singles proved to be a lot tougher as the Hornets won three of six matches.  Seneviratne got off the court first and let out a "come on" afterwards trying to get his teammates fired up pulling off the 6-1, 7-5 victory.  He extended the Poet lead to 4-0 with one more match needed to clinch the victory but the Hornets pulled off victories at No. 2 and No. 3 singles to cut the Poet lead to two. 

But at No. 6 singles freshman Shimizu came up with penetrating groundstroke's and great defense to clinch the fifth and deciding point for Whittier winning 6-2, 7-6(4).  After clinching the victory Shimizu let out a "let's go" and fired up Hansen at No. 5 who battled back from a set down to pull off the 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3 win that ended up being a grind fest.

Whittier looks to win their second straight match as they take on Puget Sound tomorrow, March 24 beginning at 3pm to close out their ten game home stand.    

 Doubles:

1.       Seneviratne/Carregha vs. Eddy/Dewenfeld   W, 8-3

2.       Hansen/Schommer vs. Dombos/Rothstein  W, 8-5

3.       Shimizu/Herron vs. Korn/Desimone   W, 8-2

Singles:

1.       Seneviratne vs. Eddy (W, 6-1, 7-5)

2.       Carregha vs. Dewenfeld (L, 6-4, 6-3)

3.       Schommer vs. Dombos (L, 6-3, 6-4)

4.       Herron vs. Rothstein (L, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (8), Forfeit)

5.       Hansen vs. Korn (W, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-3)

6.       Shimizu vs.  Desimone (W, 6-2, 7-6 (4))