The No. 15 University of Redlands men's tennis team battled it out with UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday but suffered a tough 3-6 loss to the 10th-ranked Banana Slugs in non-conference action.
The Bulldogs nabbed the first doubles point when the top tandem of freshman Patrick Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) and senior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) put together an 8-6 showing.
However, the Banana Slugs prevailed in the other two matches, also with tight scores of 8-6, resulting in a 2-1 lead.
In singles, the momentum stayed with Santa Cruz, which won the first three matches to secure the overall victory.
The Maroon and Gray gained triumphs at the No. 3 and No. 5 spots, as Bloom and junior Darren Dahl (Westlake Village, CA) rallied back in three sets. Bloom captured a hard-fought 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 win, while Dahl pushed past his counterpart with scores of 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(2).
Redlands (11-5, 0-1 SCIAC) resumes Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action on Friday when it hosts Occidental College in a 2 p.m. bout on Verdieck Courts.
