Amidst a new national ranking of No. 14, the University of Redlands men's tennis team returned to Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) action and cruised to an 8-1 victory over the Tigers of Occidental College on Friday at Verdieck Courts. With a 2-1 doubles lead, the Bulldogs rolled through the singles matches, prevailing in all six of them in straight sets.

The No. 1 duo of senior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) and freshman Patrick Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) set the tone with their 8-2 victory for the Maroon and Gray's inaugural point of the day. Freshman Gram Leahy (St. Louis, MO) and junior Anish Nanda (Cerritos, CA) put together a solid 8-4 performance at the No. 3 slot, before the Tigers rallied for a tiebreaker victory at No. 2.

Up 2-1, the Bulldogs left no doubt with solid showings at every singles position.

The rookie combination of Lipscomb and Nick Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA) sat down their No. 1 and No. 2 opponents, respectively, to move Redlands within one point of the overall match victory. Lipscomb recorded scores of 6-0, 6-0, while Cummins registered a 6-2, 6-1 win.

Nanda put this victory in the books by taking down his No. 4 counterpart, 6-3, 6-1.

In addition, freshman Taylor Hunt (Seattle, WA), junior Darren Dahl (Westlake Village, CA) and Bloom collected two-set triumphs for the Bulldogs.

As the No. 14 team in the country, Redlands joins four other SCIAC schools among the top 20. For a complete list of rankings, please visit www.itatennis.com.

The Bulldogs (12-5, 1-1 SCIAC) welcome the Panthers of Chapman University to Verdieck Courts on Saturday for a 2 p.m. non-conference showdown.