By Ron Smith
March 15, 2026
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Westmont Men's Tennis (7-6) split a pair of matches at the Abbott Tennis Courts this weekend. The Warriors fell 4-3 in a closely contested match against Hawai'i Pacific (8-3) on Saturday. Then on Sunday, the Warriors posted a 5-2 win over Colorado Mesa (5-9).
 
On Saturday, Westmont won the doubles points with wins at number one and number three. On the first court, JD Drake and Driss Sedrati defeated Mile Matic and Ethan Terry by a score of 6-3. Then on court number three, Arjun Sivakumar and Jon Ball defeated Matteo Perrod and Adam Vasir won 7-5.
 
"That was a battle and I was proud of the guys' effort against a very good Hawai'i Pacific team," said Westmont's head coach Chris Elwood. "We came out strong in doubles with really good performances at number one and number three. At number one, we have been struggling to close out matches so I was really happy. Driss and JD got their break at 3-4, then had a really strong service game to finish the set.
 
"It was a dynamic match-up at number three with Jon and Arjun pulling out a 7-5 win with a dramatic break at five-all. So, that got us some momentum and got us into the match."
 
At number two doubles, Diego De Cooman and Rafael Matias lost to Seth Newman Yannick Heitzeberg by a score of 6-2.
 
With a 1-0 lead after doubles, the Warriors had a chance of upsetting the Sharks, who hold the third best record among PacWest teams. To do so, they would need to get wins on three of the six singles courts. Unfortunately, they would only find only two
 
"Singles was marked by strong performances by Driss at number three and Diego winning the third set at number two," reported Elwood.
 
Sedrati posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over Matic while De Cooman won the first set 6-4, lost the second 4-6, then took the third 6-4.
 
"We needed one more point," noted Elwood. "Our best shot at that point was at number five where Zach Steinberg, playing injured, had a 5-2 lead. The second set ended up going to a tiebreaker."
 
Steinberg lost the first set to Pery by a score of 6-2, but was on the verge of taking the second set before the HPU player forced the tiebreak at six sets apiece. The Pery sealed the win for the Sharks by winning the tiebreaker 7-1.
 
On the other singles courts, Matias lost at number one to Vasir 6-3, 6-3, Antoine De Cooman fell 6-3, 6-2 to Newman on court four, and Sidharth Maharana lost to Rene Gabriel Jung 6-3, 6-1.
 
"I didn't feel like we played our best across the whole lineup," assessed Elwood. "Some of the guys were struggling with the heat out there, but we gave it everything we had and almost pulled out an upset.
 
"It's always hard to lose a match 4-3, but on the positive side, we were in it and there were opportunities to pull it out."
 
Sunday's game proved to be more to the Warriors' liking. Though Westmont lost the doubles point, they would respond with five wins in singles.
 
"We have lost the last couple years to this team, so it was great to defeat them with strong singles performances," said Elwood.
 
At number one doubles, Colorado Mesa's Henry Scheck and William Leschig defeated Sedrati and Drake 6-4. On the number two court, Emil Hultman and Diogo Manzano posted a 6-3 win over Matias and Diego De Cooman. Sivakumar and Ball were leading for the Warriors on court three 5-3 over Luke Burriesci and Jamison Pfingston, but the game was left undecided when the doubles point was determined.
 
"I thought we were lackluster and did not bring a great energy or quality of play in our doubles performance," said Elwood. That prompted him to have a 'little talk' with the team before singles. "The guys responded and I saw quality tennis across the whole spectrum. We were in every match and to come out with five out of six was a terrific commitment to footwork on a really hot day."
 
The first Warrior point came on number one where Diego De Cooman won the first set 6-3 and was ahead in the second set 4-1 when Scheck retired. At number two Matias posted a 6-0, 6-3 win over Manzano. On the third court, Sedrati battled to a 7-5 win over Hultman in the first set, then cruised to a 6-1 victory in the second.
 
"We had excellent play by our top three," offered Elwood. "Diego played at one today, Rafa played a lightning first set, Driss continued his exceptional level of play."
 
Steinberg picked up a win at number five, defeating Gavin Hutter 6-2, 6-2. On court number six, Drake knocked off Burriesci.
 
"Our freshman, Zach and J.D., played really solid tennis and won in straight sets," expressed Elwood.
 
The only single win for the Mavericks came on court number four where Newman defeated Antoine De Cooman 6-3, 6-4.
 
"I'm really proud of the guys," said Elwood. "It was a total team effort."
 
The Warriors will finish out a three-game home stand by hosting Missouri-St. Louis on Friday, March 27 before playing their next five games on the road.