The Westmont men’s tennis team (5-8, 5-2 GSAC) went head to head with NCAA Div. III Williams (Mass.) (4-1) on Tuesday afternoon in Montecito.
The match started with the Ephs claiming the doubles point and ended with the East Coast team continuing its success in singles for a 5-2 win.
“Overall, I thought we played pretty well,” said Westmont Head Coach Mark Basham. “It was a little bit of a teaser match where, compared to San Diego Christian, you sensed there was an opportunity for us. We weren’t quite solid enough up and down the lineup to take advantage of the opportunity today.”
In doubles, the Ephs took the first pair of matches before Westmont got on the board, clinching the doubles points as the chairs grew warm. Matt Kandel and Chase Cohen defeated Logan Thompson Ethan Ha 6-3, and Michael Medvedev and Jack Truwit bested Benny Saito and Santiago Tintore Ramon 6-2.
The Warriors’ lone win in doubles came as a moot point after the fact when Joseph Hemry and Owen Vander Ark defeated Shawn Berdia and Karan Amin 6-4.
In singles, the Ephs took control early, ensuring the Warriors did not pick up on any whiff of momentum.
Saito led 4-1 in the first before dropping five consecutive games to fall 6-4. Medvedev finished off Saito 6-2 in the second set.
Kirun Chueng defeated Tintore Ramon by the same score (6-4, 6-2).
Thompson won a tiebreaker in the first set 7-6 (4) before putting away Cohen 6-3 in set two.
As Ha fell 6-3, 6-4 to Kande, the Ephs claimed victory with two matches left to be played.
The day ended with two three-set come-from-behind victories, one in favor of Westmont and the next in favor of Williams. First, on court three, Hemry came back from a 3-6 loss in set one to defeat Amin 6-2 in consecutive sets to claim the match.
Finally, Vander Ark let one get away from him after winning the first set 6-4. Eventually, Berdia won back-to-back tense sets by scores of 6-4. 6-2.
“In singles, I was really happy with how Joseph came back at three,” Basham said. “Logan, once again, did a great job at number one. He’s really been such a good performer this year in both singles and doubles. We had a good chance with Owen, but (Berdia) just got a lot better in the third, and we weren’t able to adjust.”
The men return to action at 3 p.m. Saturday when the Warriors host the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags in Montecito. And two weeks from now, Westmont will begin play in the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament in Surprise, Ariz.
Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College.
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