Westmont College Athletics

By Ron Smith
September 21, 2017
 
(PHOENIX) Westmont Men's Tennis posted five first-round victories and was awarded a bye in singles competition and claimed two berths in the doubles quarterfinals on the opening day of the 2017 ITA Small College West Regional. The Warriors also advanced three competitors to the singles quarterfinals with second-round victories.
 
Luke Whalen, the top seed in the tournament, emerged from his first-round bye to claim a second-round victory over Austin Todd of Ottawa (Ariz.). Whalen won the first set 6-2 before Todd retired.
 
Jordan Strandness earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ottawa's Noel Maurin but fell to San Diego Christian's Allaksandr Meliuk in the second round by scores of 6-1, 6-1.
 
Christian Mathis notched a 6-3, 6-1win over Nicola Anderegg of San Diego Christian in the first round, then went on to defeat Ottawa's Erid De Romas 6-2, 7-5 to move on to the quarterfinals.
 
Miles Hale cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Peter Hariri of Ottawa before succumbing to Marcelo Balderrama of Arizona Christian 6-4, 6-2.
 
Corey Stephens swept Ottawa's Max Woodhead 6-0, 6-0 but fell to second-seeded Alberto Lapierdra in the second round by scores of 6-4, 6-4.
 
John Jones earned the Warriors' third quarterfinal berth by defeating Joel Medina of Arizona Christian 7-5, 3-0 (ret.) in the first round and Kim Donhyun of Ottawa in the second round 3-6, 6-4, (10-2).
 
Playing in the round-robin "B" draw was Westmont Matt Alleman who defeated David Rodriguez of Ottawa 6-1, 6-0.
 
In doubles action, Mathis and Hale battled to an 8-6 victory over Medina and Andy Vang from Arizona Christian. Stephens and Strandness suffered an 8-2 loss to Balderrama and Santiago Galeffi, also of Arizona Christian. Whalen and Joens claimed a spot in the quarterfinals with an 8-5 win over Anderegg and Innocent Tidimane of San Diego Christian.
 
Westmont returns to action tomorrow with quarterfinal play in the singles bracket and quarterfinal and semifinal play in the doubles bracket.