Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The No. 29 Whittier men's tennis team dropped to 2-5 in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference as No. 19 Cal Lutheran took a 5-1 decision over the Poets in the first round of conference championships at the Pauley Tennis Complex.

Whittier (11-7, 2-5 SCIAC) avoided the dreaded 3-0 hole after doubles with a solid performance from the No. 2 team of Frank Sun and Chris Schommer. The pair held off Justin Wilson and Cody Kowalczyk to earn the 8-5 win.

At No. 1 doubles, Julian Seneviratne and Patricio Carregha held their own with the No. 5 West Region team of Andrew Giuffrida and Ray Worley but ultimately lost, 8-6. The Kingsmen were able to take the lead into singles with an 8-6 win at the third position over Taylor Dimler and Ted Wyatt.

Although three matches were still in progress when the match was called, Cal Lutheran picked up its three wins at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 singles.

Marcelo Sousa defeated Frank Sun at the fourth position, 6-2, 6-0, while Juan Luis Perez dropped a straight-set decision of his own to Kowalczyk, 6-1, 6-2.

Seneviratne, who is ranked No. 20 in the region, came back on Giuffrida (ranked No. 2 in the West) after dropping the first set 6-1. The sophomore Georgia native bounced back to force a third-set with a 7-6 (5) win but lost in what proved to be the match deciding set, 6-3.

In another match-up of regionally ranked athletes, Carregha (No. 25) was on his way to a straight-set win. The junior led Justin Wilson (No. 15) 7-6 (8), 5-2.

Schommer also faced regionally ranked competition. Worley (No. 16) came back from a first-set loss to force the third set with a 6-4 win. He was up on Schommer, who won the first-set 6-2, 4-1 when the match was called.

At No.6 singles, Dimler won his first-set 7-5 before dropping the second, 6-2. The matched ended in the third-set with Ben Inchalik up 1-0.

The Poets return to action tomorrow as they face the winner of Occidental-Caltech.