Box Score By Ron Smith
April 1, 2026
 
(FRESNO, Calif.) On a hot day in the Central Valley, Westmont Men's Tennis (8-8) lost a closely fought battle to Fresno Pacific (4-5) on Wednesday afternoon by a score of 4-3.
 
"Fresno has always been a very difficult place to play on the road," noted Westmont's head coach Chris Elwood. "They bring a lot of energy when they play at home. I knew it was going to be close today. It is a disappointing loss. The team played well enough to win, but there were certain parts of the match that we didn't play sharp enough."
 
The Sunbirds claimed the doubles' point by winning on courts number one and two. At number one, Cedrick Kaufman and Joaquin Salinas defeated Westmont's JD Drake and Driss Sedrati 6-3. Fresno Pacific's Emilio Seelbach and Jordi Gonzalez defeated Diego De Cooman and Zach Steinberg by a score of 7-5 on court number two.
 
On the third court, Westmont's Sidharth Maharana and Antoine De Cooman had a 6-5 lead over Tim Bangert and Felix Devallius when the match was left unfinished because the doubles' point had been decided.
 
"The doubles point became the critical point," said Elwood. "There were places in all three of the doubles matches where we had a chance to pull ahead and we didn't capitalize on those opportunities – the deuce points, the break points. After losing the doubles' point, it was a dog fight."
 
Down 1-0 headed into singles, Westmont needed to win on four of the six courts to claim the victory.
 
"We got our first point at number three," reported Elwood. "Driss played really well again today."
 
Sedrati cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Angel España.
 
"The two other points were listed as 'retirements', but we were leading both of those. At the number two singles, Diego's opponent was cramping. Diego was up love-30 and I was looking for him to break and finish that. Then at number six singles, the opponent retired because he also was cramping. Kudos to our guys for being the more fit team."
 
On court number two, Diego De Cooman fell in the first set 7-6 to Seelbach, losing the tiebreaker 7-5. De Cooman rallied in the second set, winning 6-2, and was ahead 3-2 in the third set when Seelbach retired. At number six, Drake dropped the first set to Salinas 3-6 before taking the second set 6-2. The third set was tied at six all when Salinas retired.
 
Westmont needed one more point, but it was not to be.
 
"Our best shot at a fourth point was at number five singles," expressed Elwood. "Zach battled through an injury that he experienced in the first set. He was able to bounce back and played a solid second set. It was 6-3 in the third set and he had a deuce point right at the end."

Bangert posted a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Steinberg.
 
At number one, Kaufman defeated Rafael Matias 6-4, 6-3. Gonzalez won on the number four court, defeating Antoine De Cooman 7-5, 2-6.
 
"Rafa has missed the last two matches and was just getting back in," pointed out Elwood about his number one singles player. It was another good chance at a fourth point. He had some chances in the first set but didn't quite capitalize on the opportunities.
 
"So, we were just a little short. We are hoping to improve our doubles in the next two days, to give us that little edge going into singles."
 
The Warriors will play at Jessup on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. and then head over to Atherton to take on Menlo on Friday at noon.
 
"I thought we prepared the guys well," said Elwood regarding the match at Fresno. "They were motivated and played their hearts out. At this point in the season, we are certainly dealing with some injuries and that was a factor today. At the end of the day, give credit to Fresno who edged us out."