Westmont College Athletics

By Ron Smith
September 29, 2019
 
(RAMONA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Tennis opened the 2019-20 season by participating in the ITA NAIA West Regionals, held at the Riviera Oaks Tennis Club. The Warriors competed in two singles brackets and a doubles bracket.
 
"It was a good trip overall," said Westmont head coach Mark Basham. "All eight of our guys played pretty well, fought hard and had good attitudes."
 
Four Warriors participated in the singles 'A' bracket with Alex Carbonell advancing to the semifinals.
 
"Alex won three matches, all by competing well and showing good grit," said Basham.
 
Carbonell defeated San Diego Christian's Jesse Miritello of Arizona Christian 6-0, 4-6, (11-9) in the first round, then posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Gianmaria Di Filippo of San Diego Christian in the second round.
 
In the quarterfinals, Carbonell met up with Nixon of Hope International and cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win to advance to the semifinals. In the semis, Carbonell lost to Chris Papa of San Diego Christian 6-3, 6-3.
 
"Matt Alleman won his first match and then won the first set against a good player from Hope International in the second round," reported Basham. "He wasn't able to sustain it and lost in a super tiebreaker."
 
Alleman defeated Austin Todd of OUAZ (Ariz.) 6-3, 6-3 before falling to Campos of Hope International 6-7 (3), 6-2, (10-1).
 
Also reaching the second round was freshman Zachary Prince who defeated Saint Katherine's Kiett by scores of 6-2, 6-3. Prince lost 6-3, 7-6 (4) to Andrew Vasquez of Arizona Christian in the second round.
 
"I was happy with how Zach played," noted Basham.
 
Ryan Chung suffered a 6-4, 6-2 loss to D. Navarro of Arizona Christian.
 
Westmont also entered four athletes in the singles 'B' bracket including Mark Polowczak who reached the finals.
 
"It was nice to see Mark Poloczak win a few matches in the 'B' draw," said Basham.
 
Polowczak defeated Phillip Weise in the Arizona Christian 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals where he faced teammate Benjamin Saito and came out on top in a close battle with scores of 7-5, 7-6 (6). In the finals, Polowczak defeated Mass of Arizona Christian 6-4, 4-6, (10-5).
 
Saito reached the semifinals by posting a 5-7, 6-4, (10-6) win in the first round over Hope International's Benchegra.
 
Also playing in the first round were Trevor Stephens and Sebastian Vethan. Stephens lost to Jayke Ancheta of Hope International 6-1, 1-6, (10-4). Venthan lost to Mass 6-4, 6-0.
 
"Overall, it was solid," said Basham of his team's performance in the singles brackets. "We didn't have our probable number-one player, Joseph Hemry, who is still recovering from an injury he experienced in August.
 
In the doubles bracket, Alleman and Zachary reached the finals before falling to Arizona Christian's Miritello and Navarro 8-3. The Westmont pair won their first round match 8-2 over Todd and Max Woodhead of OUAZ. In the quarterfinals, Alleman and Prince claimed an 8-3 win over Weise and Maas.
 
Polowczak and Venthan recorded a first-round victory over De Tilippo and Rodrigo Roxo of San Diego Christian by an 8-6 score, then fell to Lucas Monterroso and Navarro of Arizona Christian 8-7 (2) in the quarterfinals.
 
Also playing in the doubles tournament, Chung and Carbonell lost to Hope Internationals Morrison and Campos. Stephens and Saito lost to Monterroso and Navarro.