By Zach DeMarcus
April 16, 2018
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) #16 Westmont Men's Tennis (7-8, 3-3 GSAC) took down #14 San Diego Christian (8-6, 4-2 GSAC) by a score of 7-2. The win puts the Warriors in third place at the end of GSAC play.
 
Westmont swept doubles play to start the match, At ones, Christian Mathis and Miles Hale defeated Aliaksandr Meliuk and German Ziella 8-4. At threes, Jordan Strandness and Corey Stephens triumphed over Innocent Tidimane and Nick Bell 8-6. In the two position, Luke Whalen and John T. Joens edged David Samardzija and Alonso Tellez 9-8 (7-5).
 
Westmont continued their strong performance through singles play. Joens kicked things off with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over San Diego's Samardzija at threes. In the six position, Stephens added another point to Westmont's total with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Davit Ismailian. At fives, Strandness took down San Diego's Bell 6-2, 6-2 – extending Westmont's lead to 6-0.
 
Mathis scored Westmont's seventh and final point at twos as he triumphed over Meliuk 7-6 (7-2) 6-2. San Diego snagged the remaining two points at the one and four positions – both matches required a third, super set to reach completion. At fours, Tidimane defeated Hale 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 1-0 (10-5). At ones, Tellez overcame a first set loss to defeat Whalen 3-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-0 (10-5). This brought the match to its final score of 7-2 in favor of the Warriors.
 
Up next is the GSAC Tournament in Indian Wells. The Warriors will go into the tournament as the third seed and the Hawks will enter as the second seed. The two teams will face off against each other in the semifinals on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. The victor will take on the winner of top-seeded Arizona Christian (16-6, 5-1 GSAC) and fourth-seeded Hope International (6-14, 0-6 GSAC) on Friday at 9:00 a.m for the GSAC Tournament Championship.