The Pomona-Pitzer men’s tennis team went 1-1 in back-to-back matchups at the Pauley Tennis Complex on
Monday, March 10, and Tuesday, March 11. The No. 16 Sagehens (4-1, 1-0 SCIAC) took their first loss of the season on
Monday, losing to No. 6 Trinity University 5-4. P-P bounced back
with a 6-3 win on Tuesday against No. 26 Skidmore College. After splitting the
matchups, the Sagehens improved to a 4-1 overall record.
After Trinity won the No. 3 doubles match, the Sagehens recovered to win the next two. No. 1 doubles players Chris Wiechert PZ ’14 and Anthony Bello PO ’17 won their match, and then Connor Hudson
PO ’15 and Connor Sutton PO ’15 won the tie-breaking match to put the Sagehens
ahead 2-1.
Hudson also pulled out an important win in his No. 3 singles match, beating Trinity’s Aaron Skinner 6-4, 6-1 to keep the Sagehens ahead by a score of 3-2 after P-P dropped their first singles matchup.
Trinity then won the next three
singles matches, with the No. 2 game as the clincher. With only one singles match
left, the Sagehens trailed 5-3. Alhough Jonathan Kim PZ ’16 won his match in three sets 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3, Trinity had already clinched the match. The highly ranked squad gave P-P its
first loss of the season with a final score of 5-4.
Although it was a rough first loss
of the season, P-P remained optimistic.
“Monday was definitely a tough loss,” Spencer Simonides PO ’17 said. “We came out really strong in the doubles, and I think everyone was pumped up so
we had chances throughout the singles. We just couldn’t quite get them, against
such a tough team. It’s really hard to be that close against such a good team.
I know we will bounce back, though. We all want it so bad, we will not let a
close loss put us down.”
After
the tough loss on Monday, P-P bounced back to defeat Skidmore on
Tuesday. Skidmore jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead, winning the first doubles
match, but Sam Crawford PO ’16 and Kim took the second match 8-5. Hudson and
Sutton were defeated in a very close match as the Skidmore duo converted on their
fifth match point to win 9-7, putting them ahead 2-1.
In
the singles matches, Jake Yasgoor PZ ’17 and Michael Chang PZ ’15 won their
matches in straight sets, making quick work of their opponents. This put the Sagehens back
in the lead 3-2.
Kim and Wiechert kept the singles winning streak going as they
both won their matches to clinch the match for the Sagehens. Hudson won the
final match of the day in the No. 3 singles slot 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 to help the Sagehens defeat Skidmore by a final score of 6-3.
“I
was impressed with the way our team rebounded after going down 1-2 in doubles,”
Wiechert said about the Skidmore matchup. “What the last two
days have shown, along with the rest of our season, is that we have the ability
to beat any team in the country. If we come out focused from the outset of the
match, we can compete with the best.”
This weekend, the Sagehens are co-hosting the Stag-Hen Invitational with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. P-P will face No. 11 Bowdoin College today at the Pauley Tennis Complex at 10 a.m.; the matchups to follow will depend on the outcome of the first round of matches.
“The
Stag-Hen is always a grind because it is a lot of tennis packed into two days,” Wiechert said. “In the days leading up to the tournament we are doing our best to stay fresh
while also keeping our competitive edge. We lost to Bowdoin last year in the
first round, and now we get a chance to play them first again. I’m excited for
this team to show the improvements we have made and for us to start our spring
break stretch on a positive note.”
Simonides is also looking forward to the opportunity the weekend provides.
“I think we will really be looking to have high energy and get amped out
there,” Simonides said. “I feel like we have enough talent that if we can just be confident in
ourselves and believe, we will compete and
overwhelm the other teams.”