By Tim Heiduk
March 6, 2020
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) The Westmont men's tennis team (1-4, 1-2 GSAC) dropped its second straight Golden State Athletic Conference match against a ranked opponent on consecutive days, falling to #17 Hope International (6-3, 3-1) on Saturday, 2-5.
 
The day began nicely for the Warriors, who won the point available in doubles by winning two of the three matches played.
 
"We did win the doubles' point, so I'm encouraged by that," Westmont head coach Mark Basham said after the match. "Matt (Alleman) and Zach (Prince) played great at number one. Totally different story for them today. Their performance was so much more aggressive and purposeful."
 
Matthew Alleman and Zachary Prince combined to win 6-2 at number one doubles, before Benjamin Saito and Sebastian Vethan were swept at number two doubles, 0-6.
 
That set the stage for Ryan Chung and Trevor Stephens at number three doubles, with the duo winning 7-6.
 
"We got the doubles' point with Ryan and Trevor coming back in the tiebreaker," Basham said. "They were pumped up and it was great to see them get so excited."
 
Vethan picked up the Warriors' lone victory in singles, defeating Riley Morrison at number five, 7-5, 6-2.
 
The Royals won the other five singles matches to win the match, 5-2.
 
"In singles, we played pretty well. We competed really hard, so I'm happy about that," Basham said. "Hope was just a little bit steadier overall in the singles matches."
 
Prince was the next closest Warrior in singles, falling in three sets to Tanishq Mahendru: 1-6, 6-4, 4-6. Abraham Pauta lost a second set tiebreaker to Yazid Benchegra, falling at number six, 3-6, 6-7 (4-7).
 
James Zhang defeated Saito at number four 6-3, 6-4, while Dale Nixon beat Chung at number two, 6-1, 6-1. Simon Campos took down Alleman 6-2, 6-3, at number one.