On a day where tears were shed before the match even ended, Westmont Men’s Tennis (4-4, 4-0 GSAC) continued their march through GSAC play with a dramatic 4-3 win over OUAZ (5-4, 2-1 GSAC). The match ended in storybook fashion, with a tie-breaker to decide the match winner on court one. In the end, Westmont’s Logan Thompson put the finishing touch on the club’s fourth consecutive conference victory.
“On paper, .500 says one thing,” began Westmont head coach Mark Basham, “but we are 4-0 in conference so far. We have beaten three teams in GSAC play so far that are every bit on our level and I’m so proud that we’ve been able to pull this off.
“OUAZ was one of our toughest and most challenging matches of the season, and our guys did everything they could.”
In doubles, the Warriors and the Spirit split two matches on courts one and three, both by a score of 6-1. On court one, Ethan Ha and Thompson defeated Michael Loyd and Austin Todd. Over on three, Benny Saito and Santiago Tintore Ramon fell to Goor Adiv and Gianmarco Pitotti.
Luckily for Westmont, Joseph Hemry and Owen Vander Ark finished off Bryce Bodak and Liam Spiers by a score of 6-2 on court two, clinching the doubles point for the Warriors.
“It was great to see us win on both one and two during doubles,” noted Basham. “Ethan and Logan have certainly been a highlight for us on the year so far at number one. They’re 7-1 in doubles. They’ve been lights out.
“We finally won a good match on number two with Joseph and Owen, and that was important to get them going.”
In singles, the two sides traded blows for the rest of the day. On court two, Ha fell to Spiers 7-5, 6-1 and on five, Saito fell to Loyd by a score of 6-0, 6-1. Westmont also fell on court three, where Vander Ark fell to Bodak 7-6 (7), 6-4.
Westmont found success on court four, where Wright defeated Adiv 7-5, 6-4, and on six, where Hemry outlasted Pitotti by a score of 7-6 (7), 6-2.
The match came down to Thompson versus Todd on court one, in a showdown that tested the will and the heart of each opponent. Thompson fell 4-6 in the first set, before winning the same score in set two. Then, the two men pushed each other to a tiebreaker in set three, where it took 20 points to crown a victor.
“Logan’s match was really the highlight of the day,” expressed Basham. “Basically, Logan had two match points and couldn’t get it done. Then, we were up 5-1 in the tiebreaker and had even more match points, but their guy wouldn’t give it away.
“I think Logan was feeling nervous, and then the other guy had a few match points, and he couldn’t finish it either!”
When it was all said and done, Thompson won the tiebreaker 11-9 as he choked back tears, and was mauled by his team as the Warriors found a way to win it.
“Logan was so emotional; there were tears in his eyes during that tiebreaker,” shared Basham. “I was worried that was going to work against him but he found a way. After the match Logan told me, ‘I love my teammates so much. I just wanted to win it for them’.
“I don’t remember ever seeing him that emotional during a match. It was a total emotional roller coaster and I was so happy to see our guys win it. This might have been the most emotional I’ve ever seen our team run out after a match-clinching point.”
Thompson and the Warriors are now alone in first place in the GSAC, with a one game lead over San Diego Christian (8-6, 2-9 GSAC).
Westmont looks to carry their momentum to a fifth consecutive GSAC-win tomorrow, when they host Arizona Christian in Santa Barbara. First serve is scheduled for 10:00 a.m.
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
email: sports@newspress.com
