WHITTIER, Calif. - The
Whittier College men's tennis team came one win away from upsetting
No. 30 Pomona-Pitzer on Friday afternoon at the Richard Ettinger
Tennis Courts but the Sagehens won the final two matches of the day
to pull off the come from behind victory, 5-4.
The Poets (3-1, 1-1 SCIAC) opened the day in impressive fashion
as they took two of the three doubles matches to hold a 2-1
advantage going into singles.
Whittier's No. 1 team of Sean Robertson and
Justin DeLong needed little time to notch the
first victory of the day for the purple and gold as the two juniors
won 8-1. The No. 3 team of Frank Sun and
Gavin Smith tallied the other win for the Poets,
8-4.
Sun continued to stay hot this season as he improved to a
perfect 8-0 (singles and doubles) with a 6-2, 6-3, win at No. 6
singles.
Patricio Carregha rebounded from a doubles
defeat to win the No. 3 singles match, 6-2, 7-6 (1) and put the
Poets in position to steal the match from the Sagehens. Carregha
improved to 4-0 at singles on the year.
The Poets led 4-3 with the No. 5 and No. 2 singles matches still
in play. Smith took the first set fro Pomona's Alden Williford but
couldn't hold on as he lost 6-3, 2-6, 2-6.
In arguably the match of the day DeLong faced 2008 second team
all-SCIAC performer Nick Tagliarino in No. 2 singles. DeLong won
the first set from Tagliarino, 6-4, but Tagliarino responded with a
6-2 set to tie the score.
DeLong led 4-3 but dropped two consecutive games to put his back
against the wall. Down 5-4 and with match-point against him, DeLong
returned Tagliarino's forehand a foot too deep which sealed the
victory for Pomona.
"This is going to be a hard one to get over," said head coach
Dave Bojalad. "If we win this match, we most
likely get nationally ranked next week which was or goal this
year."
The Poets return to action tomorrow, February 21, as they travel
to Claremont, Calif., to face No. 3 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Results
Doubles
1. DeLong/Robertson (WC) def. Tagliarino/Williford (P-P)
8-1
2. Friedman/Meyer (P-P) def. Carregha/Franey (WC) 8-4
3. Smith/Sun (WC) def. Cohn/Groth (P-P) 8-4
Singles
1. Tommy Meyer (P-P) def. Sean Robertson (WC) 6-1, 6-1
2. Nick Tagliarino (P-P) def. Justin DeLong (WC) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Patricio Carregha (WC) def. Udah Singh (P-P) 6-2, 7-6 (1)
4. Alex Groth (P-P) def. Lance Franey (WC) 6-3, 6-3
5. Alden Williford (P-P) def. Gavin Smith (WC) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
6. Frank Sun (WC) def. Ramsey Bernard (P-P) 6-2, 6-3
