Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
WHITTIER, Calif. – The Whittier College Men's Tennis team grabbed the No. 4 seed in the 2016 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships after defeating Caltech 6-3 at the Richard Ettinger Tennis Courts.
S. Pathireddy and R. Joshi were no match for Andrew You (Arcadia, Calif.) and Samuel Farmer (Carlsbad, Calif.) who won 8-2 at the top spot in doubles. Sean Jardinico (Pleasant Valley, NY) and David Stanko (Morena Valley, Calif.) followed that up with an 8-5 win at No. 3 giving the Poets a 2-0 lead. But the sweep couldn't be made as Troy Chavez (Temecula, Calif.) and Tyler Linscott (Tuscon, AZ) gave up a huge lead falling 8-6 to D. Nguyen and R. Pathreddy that put the Beavers on the scoreboard.
The match eventually came down to the No. 2 and No. 4 spots who each went to a third set. R. Joshi was no match for You falling in straights 6-1, 6-1 and Linscott was untouched at No. 5 against S. Pathireddy not dropping a game winning 6-0, 6-0. But Caltech made it a match getting wins at No. 6 and No. 3 as Chavez and Jardinico fell in straights allowing the match to stay tight.
The Purple & Gold led 4-3 with two matches left on court but were able to pull it out as Farmer would hold on for the 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over A. Liu, while Stanko edged D. Nguyen 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-3.
Whittier enters the SCIAC Championships as the No. 4 seed and will host the No. 5 seeded Beavers of Caltech for the second straight time this Friday, May 6 beginning at 3:00pm.
