Box Score
FOREST GROVE – It seems that the Pacific tennis team's trip to Florida is paying doubles dividends. The team has yet to drop a doubles match since returning to the Northwest.
The Boxers swept doubles for the third consecutive match on the way to an 8-1 victory at Lewis & Clark on Sunday. Now firmly entrenched in second place at 9-1 in the Northwest Conference (10-1 overall), the Boxers have just two matches remaining until the NWC Tournament. Lewis & Clark dropped to 2-8 in conference and 4-9 overall.
Troy Zuroske (Fr., Richland, Wash.) and
Giancarlo Battaglia (Fr., Sherman Oaks, Calif.) were dominant in the No. 1 doubles match, defeating Olivier Groot and Quinn Roth-Carter 8-1. Much like the first meeting of these two teams, the majority of the drama was reserved for the No. 1 singles match.
In what is developing into one of the top rivalries in the NWC, the frosh Dutchman Groot and soph Bomber Zuroske went to a third-set tiebreaker in their first meeting of the season, won by Zuroske on Feb. 24. On Sunday, it took another first-to-ten tiebreak to decide their match, but not until the first two sets had gone to tiebreakers as well. This time, Groot prevailed 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-4) to improve his individual mark to 11-2 on the season and 8-2 in conference play. Zuroske is not 8-8 overall at No. 1 singles with a 7-4 NWC mark.
Brandon Schlack (Fr., Long Beach, Calif.) and
Scott Kawamura (Jr., Aiea, Hawaii) took the day off in singles, as the Boxers were playing for their third match in three days. Schlack and
Spencer Hing (Sr., Phoenix, Ariz.) combined for an 8-2 win over Carter Taylor-Gee and Cole Pfeifer I the No. 2 doubles match and Kawamura and
Kolin Wong (Jr., Captain Cook, Hawaii) won the most competitive doubles match, getting past Scott Monismith and Christian Stanbrook 8-5 in the No. 3 flight.
Hing got past Taylor-Gee 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 2 singles match. Stepping up to No. 4 singles in Schlack's absence,
Eric Furuya (Sr., Portland, Ore.) knocked off Pfeifer 6-1, 6-3. Wong, playing at No. 5, defeated Lucas Fodor 6-1, 6-1. In the No. 6 match,
Hector Alcayde (Sr., Wahiawa, Hawaii) picked up his second victory of the weekend with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Christian Stanbrook. After sitting out singles on Friday, Battaglia returned to the No. 3 slot and had little trouble dispatching Monismith in a 6-3, 6-0 victory.
The Boxers travel to Pacific Lutheran on Friday for a 4:00 p.m. showdown before closing out the regular season at home on Saturday at noon against Linfield. If Pacific is able to hold on to the second seed in the conference, they will host a playoff match against the No. 3 team on Saturday, April 21.
