The No. 17 University of Redlands men's tennis team captured two victories over opponents from the Northwest Conference on Saturday, taking down Willamette University (OR) and Linfield College (OR) both by a score of 8-1.
Against the Bearcats of Willamette, the Bulldogs nabbed a 2-1 lead after the doubles matches, with the No. 3 tandem of sophomore Connor Hyde (Peterborough, NH) and junior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) striking first with an 8-2 victory. After falling at the No. 2 slot, Redlands looked to senior Cameron Spearman (Laguna Niguel, CA) and sophomore Anish Nanda (Cerritos, CA) to pull out an exciting 9-8(4) win at the top spot.
Redlands went on to sweep the singles matches with Bloom, senior Keven Wong (Kaneohe, HI) and Nanda recording the first three points to secure the team's overall triumph. Bloom came up with another solid performance with a 6-0, 6-3 showing at the No. 5 slot, followed by an impressive rout by Wong at No. 6, 6-1, 6-2. Nanda downed his No. 3 counterpart by scores of 6-2, 6-2 to clinch the Bulldogs' win.
In Saturday's second match, Redlands continued to roll by taking all three doubles matches with dominating scores. The recently reunited duo of Wong and senior Casey Fashouer (Arlington, VA), who played together earlier this season, cruised to an 8-1 victory at No. 3, before Hyde and Bloom defeated their No. 2 counterparts by a score of 8-3. Finally, the Bulldogs debuted a newly formed tandem at the top slot, with Spearman and senior Jeff Casserd (Bellevue, WA) taking care of business in their first match together with an 8-4 triumph.
Redlands nearly blanked Linfield but settled for five out of the six singles matches. Bloom continued his hot streak of late with a shutout victory at No. 5 as sophomore Darren Dahl (Westlake Village, CA) recorded a dominating 6-1, 6-1 performance at No. 4. Wong officially sealed the deal for the Bulldogs with his 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 6 slot.
After a busy week of competition, the Bulldogs (7-6) look forward to enjoying a short break before competing on Friday when they host No. 14 Trinity College (CT) at 3 p.m.
