The No. 18 University of Redlands men's tennis team knocked off the Poets of Whittier College in Saturday's Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) match by a score of 6-3. With four freshmen competing in the scoring six, the Bulldogs pushed themselves against the Poets en route to the important conference win.

The No. 2 doubles duo of senior Jeff Hammond (Mercer Island, WA) and junior Keven Wong (Kaneohe, HI) dominated their opponents with an 8-1 result. The No. 3 tandem of freshman Connor Hyde (Peterborough, NH) and sophomore Lander Jewett (Helena, MT) rolled to an 8-3 victory to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

However, the Poets rallied back at the top slot to make it a 2-1 match after the doubles.

In singles, Redlands gained its third point when Hyde posted a solid 6-3, 6-0 victory at No. 4.

Although Whittier nabbed the next point with a three-set victory at No. 5, the Maroon and Gray won the following two matches to clinch the team victory at 5-2. Wong provided a 6-2, 6-4 performance at the No. 6 position, which was followed by freshman Taylor Chaparro's (Burlingame, CA) 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 3.

Junior Cameron Spearman (Laguna Niguel, CA) came through with the Bulldogs' sixth point with his 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 showing at the No. 1 spot.

Redlands (12-9, 3-2 SCIAC) looks forward to hosting a final doubleheader of the regular season on April 10. The Bulldogs take on No. 22 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in a critical SCIAC match at 9:30 a.m. and then battle it out against NAIA opponent Vanguard University at 2 p.m.