REDLANDS, Calif. - The Whittier College men's tennis team will play for fifth place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tomorrow, April 18. The Poets entered the 2009 SCIAC Championships as the No. 5 seed and lost to No. 4 seed, and No. 29 nationally, Pomona-Pitzer in the first round.

The Poets (14-7) had their opportunity to take one of the three doubles matches but the No. 3 team of Gavin Smith and Frank Sun couldn't hold their three-game, 5-2, lead. Smith and Sun eventually lost 8-6. Lance Franey and Patricio Carregha also suffered an 8-6 loss at No. 2 doubles and Sean Robertson and Justin DeLong fell 8-5 at No. 1.

Pomona clinched the match with a pair of wins at No. 4 and No. 5 singles. Three of the singles matches were still being played while one singles match didn't play at all.

The Poets rebounded in their afternoon match of the Championships with a clean sweep of No. 8 seed Caltech.

Last season the Poets finished sixth in the conference. WC defeated Oxy 6-3 earlier this year.

Results vs. Pomona-Pitzer
Doubles
1. Taylor/ Singh (P-P) def. DeLong/Robertson (WC) 8-5
2. Friedman/Bernard (P-P) def. Carregha/Franey (WC) 8-6
3. Cohn/Groth (P-P) def. Smith/Sun (WC) 8-6

Singles
1. Sean Robertson (WC) led Cameron Taylor (P-P) 4-3, unfinished
2. Tommy Meyer (P-P) led Justin DeLong (WC) 7-5, unfinished
3. Patricio Carregha (WC) led Nick Tagliarino (P-P) 6-2, 2-0, unfinished
4. Uday Singh (P-P) def. Lance Franey (WC) 6-2, 6-2
5. Alex Groth (P-P) def. Frank Sun (WC) 6-2, 6-4
6. Gavin Smith vs. Ramsey Bernard (unplayed)