The No. 16 University of Redlands men's tennis team attempted to avenge a recent one-point loss to the Kingsmen of seventh-ranked Cal Lutheran University, but came up short by a score of 3-5 during Thursday's first-round action of the 2012 NCAA Division III Championships at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
The Bulldogs captured two of the three doubles points, earning an early lead for the fourth consecutive time against a ranked foe. The rookie duo of Nick Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA) and Teddy Jones (St. Louis, MO) posted a solid 8-3 win at the No. 2 slot, before freshman Gram Leahy (Portland, OR) and junior Anish Nanda (Cerritos, CA) pulled out an exciting 9-7 victory at No. 3.
Junior Darren Dahl (Westlake Village, CA) kept the momentum with the Bulldogs by dismissing his No. 6 opponent, 6-3, 6-3.
However, the Kingsmen battled back, collecting straight-set victories at four of the remaining singles matches to secure the overall triumph.
Redlands (16-10) looks forward to sending freshman Patrick Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) and senior Mark Bloom (San Juan Capistrano, CA) to the NCAA Division III Individual Championships, with Lipscomb competing in singles and the duo taking on the doubles draw. The event kicks off on May 24 in Cary, NC.
