The No. 16 University of Redlands men's tennis team secured third place in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Tournament with Saturday's 6-3 victory over No. 19 Cal Lutheran University. In addition, during a short awards ceremony following the tournament, it was announced that senior Cameron Spearman (Laguna Niguel, CA) garnered his third First-Team All-SCIAC honors of his tenure, while sophomore Connor Hyde (Peterborough, NH) and junior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) landed on the Second Team for the first time their respective careers.
Against the Kingsmen, the Bulldogs jumped out to a solid 2-1 advantage after doubles. Leading the charge, Hyde and Bloom teamed up for a shutout performance at the No. 2 slot, while seniors Keven Wong (Kaneohe, HI) and Jeff Hammond (Mercer Island, WA) made quick work of their No. 3 opponents with an 8-2 showing.
In singles, Redlands registered two consecutive points with Bloom cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 win at No.3 and Wong taking down his No. 5 counterpart by scores of 6-2, 6-1.
Cal Lutheran fought back with a two-set victory at No. 2, making it 4-2 in favor of the Maroon and Gray.
However, the Kingsmen's comeback was short-lived as sophomore Anish Nanda (Cerritos, CA) stepped up with a 6-2, 6-2 win at the No. 6 slot to secure the Bulldogs' deciding point.
In addition, Redlands gained a 6-3, 6-4 triumph from sophomore Darren Dahl (Westlake Village, CA).
The Bulldogs advanced to Saturday's third-place match after securing a 5-0 victory over Occidental College in the first round and then falling to No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges by a score of 2-7 in the semifinal.
During Friday's opening round, Redlands recorded victories in the first five matches to handily defeat the sixth-seeded Tigers. Highlighting the rout, Spearman and Bloom both captured points in their respective doubles and singles outings.
Against the second-seeded Sagehens, the Maroon and Gray held an early 2-1 lead after doubles. Wong and Hammond initiated the scoring with an 8-6 display at No.3 before Spearman and senior Jeff Casserd (Bellevue, WA) captured the Bulldogs' second point with an 8-6 showing at the top spot.
Redlands continued to control the momentum by winning the opening sets in five of the six singles matches.
However, Pomona-Pitzer refused to go away and eventually closed out five three-setters en route to the Bulldogs' disappointing defeat.
Upon conclusion of the regular season, the Bulldogs (13-12, 6-3 SCIAC) look forward to competing in the 111th Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament on April 29-May 1.
