By Zach DeMarcus
February 18, 2018
 
(PHOENIX) Westmont Men's Tennis (2-3, 0-1 GSAC) dropped their first Golden State Athletic Conference match of the season to Arizona Christian (3-2, 2-0 GSAC) Saturday 5-2. The Warriors would bounce back to narrowly defeat Ottawa (Ariz.) (0-3) by a score of 5-4 later in the afternoon.
 
The Warriors went down 1-2 after doubles play to the Firestorm. Westmont's John T. Joens and Miles Hale defeated Enzo Douillac and Jesse Miritello 8-6. Arizona Christian's Daniel Superlano and Scott Wheeler conquered Christian Mathis and Austin Lee 8-6. Lastly, the Firestorm's Marcelo Balderrama and Santiago Galeffi narrowly triumphed over Jordan Strandness and Corey Stephens 9-8 (7-5).
 
In singles play, Arizona Christian's Enzo Douillac ran past Luke Whalen 6-0, 6-1. Westmont's Hale was the Warriors' lone singles winner as he moved past Miritello 6-2, 6-1. The Firestorm's Superlano conquered Joens 6-3, 6-3. Balderrama beat Westmont's Stephens 6-2, 6-2 to earn Arizona Christian their match-deciding fifth point.
 
The last two matches went unfinished as the overall match had already been decided and Westmont had another match to play latter in the day. Mathis' match was knotted up at one set a piece 5-7, 2-6 and Strandness was trailing Arizona Chirstian's Wheeler 6-3, 4-3 as their matches were cut short.
 
The Warriors had to put this loss behind them as they faced Ottawa right after the conclusion of the Arizona Christian match.
 
Westmont again fell behind 1-2 after doubles play. Westmont's Strandness and Stephens defeated Austin Todd and Max Wood 8-3. Ottawa's Noel Maurin and Andrew Noblett triumphed over Mathis and Lee 8-6 and Leonardo Couto and Kim Donghyun edged Joens and Hale 9-8 (7-4).
 
The Warriors would fight till the end through their singles matches. Strandness started off with a win over Woodhead 6-2, 6-0. Stephens added another point for the Warriors beating Nathan Nair 6-0, 7-5 – giving Westmont a 3-2 lead.
 
Couto defeated Westmont's Whalen 6-2, 7-5. Joens defeated Ottawa's Maurin 6-1, 6-2 to give the Warriors a 4-3 lead. Westmont's Mathis gave the Warriors the overall victory as he defeated Donghyun 6-0, 7-6 (7-2). It took three sets for Ottawa's Noblett to defeat Hale 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5) to bring the final score to 5-4 in favor of the Warriors.
 
Westmont takes a trip to San Diego next weekend as they face Point Loma on Friday and San Diego Christian on Saturday. Both matches are scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. start time.