Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College men's tennis team wrapped up their nine match home stand coming away winless capped off with an 8-1 loss to Chicago.
Match 5 (No. 18 Bowdoin – 9, Whittier – 0)
Whittier continued their home stand with No. 18 Bowdoin and was shutout for their second straight match and third overall for the season. The No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams combined for five games falling 8-3, and 8-2 respectively. In singles David Stanko (Morena Valley, Calif.) attempted to put the Purple & Gold on the scoreboard but suffered a break in each set falling 6-4, 6-4 at No. 2 against Noah Bragg.
Shogo Shimizu (Tokyo, Japan) also found success at No. 3 dropping a tight first set 6-4 to Kyle Wolfe but couldn't bounce back in the second as he fell 6-2.
Match 6 (Whitman – 9, Whittier – 0)
The Poets found themselves in yet another hole as they took on No. 15 Whitman College. The only games won in doubles came from the No. 3 team of Tyler Linscott (Tuscon, AZ) and Joseph Laguna (Santa Ana, Calif.) who grabbed two against Robert Carter and Chase Friedman.
Trailing 3-0 the Poets fought in singles led by Stanko at No. 2 who battled with Zach Hewlin falling 6-2, 7-6. Samuel Farmer (Carlsbad, Calif.), despite a tough 6-0 loss in the first set to Colton Malesovas, he earned four games in the second to one of the top regionally ranked opponents.
Match 7 (Vassar – 7, Whittier – 2)
The match-up with Vassar was a back and forth battle. Despite losses at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, Shimizu and Ian Ross (Altadena, Calif.) pulled out a huge 8-6 win at No. 2 against Christian Phelps and Evan Udine that kept the Poets close.
In singles, straight set losses proved costly at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 5, and No. 6 but in the middle two three setters occurred. Shimizu went the distance with Phelps after forcing a third set breaker at No. 4 but fell 5-7, 7-5, 7-10 but at No. 4 Linscott proved tough edging Udine 7-6, 6-7, 10-4 that gave WC their second point.
Match 8 (Middlebury – 9, Whittier – 0)
A couple days after the Vassar match the Poets faced off against a tough Middlebury squad ranked inside of the Top 10 in Division III. Troy Chavez (Temecula, Calif.) and Linscott gave the No. 1 duo of Palmer Campbell and Peter Heidrich all they could handle falling 8-5 but the Poets still found themselves trailing 3-0 early.
In singles, Shimizu again proved tough at No. 3 taking an early lead 7-5 against Courtney Mountifield before dropping the second 6-2 and eventually the third.
Linscott also put together a strong match dropping one break in the first and second sets to lose 7-5, 6-3 to William de Quant.
Match 9 (No. 13 Chicago – 9, Whittier – 0)
In the final non-conference match-up the Poets took on Chicago ranked No. 13. The Maroons won their ninth straight match but couldn't roll the sweep as the Poets No. 1 team of Chavez and Linscott pulled off a huge 9-8 (3) win over Deepak Sabada and David Liu that kept WC in the match early.
Farmer was the lone Poet to put together a fight coming at No. 1 where he pushed Nicolas Chua 7-5 in the first set before falling 6-1 in the second.
