No. 15 Bulldog Men's Tennis Opens Season with 5-4 Victory over Point Loma Nazarene, Falls to UCSD
The No. 15 University of Redlands men's tennis team opened the 2012 season with an exciting 5-4 victory over NAIA's No. 7 Point Loma Nazarene University on Saturday. After trailing in doubles, the Bulldogs rallied back with four singles wins to secure the overall triumph.
After PLNU earned the first doubles point of the match, the No. 2 duo of freshman Patrick Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) and senior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) captured a 9-7 showing to tie the team score at one-all. But the Sea Lions prevailed in a tiebreaker at No. 3 to nab a slight 2-1 edge.
The Bulldogs picked up the pace in singles action as Bloom initiated the scoring with his impressive 6-4, 6-2 effort at No. 4. Junior Anish Nanda (Cerritos, CA) kept the ball rolling with another two-set victory at No. 6, which came by scores of 6-3, 6-3.
However, PLNU fired back with two consecutive wins at No. 2 and No. 5, making it 4-3.
Refusing to go away, Redlands looked to a pair of freshmen to register come-from-behind, three-set victories to clinch the team's overall win. Lipscomb fought back to defeat the Sea Lions' top opponent, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1, before freshman Taylor Hunt (Seattle, WA) sealed the deal with his 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 performance at the No. 3 spot.
Redlands also battled it out with the NCAA Division II's 10th-ranked squad from UC San Diego later that afternoon but fell to the Tritons, 1-8. With three very close doubles matches, the final tally could have easily gone in favor of the Bulldogs.
Lipscomb nabbed the only point for the Maroon and Gray, prevailing by scores of 7-6(4), 3-6, 10-7 at the No. 1 position.
Redlands (1-1) looks forward to hosting a pair of NAIA opponents in No. 8 Vanguard University and No. 11 Concordia University – Irvine at Verdieck Courts on Saturday. The first match begins at 10 a.m., with the second contest scheduled for 2 p.m.
