Men's Tennis Season Ends With Loss To Whitman In NWC Tourney
Box Score
WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The buzzsaw that is Whitman was too much for a banged up Pacific squad Saturday as the Boxers bowed out to the Missionaries, 5-0, in the semifinals of the Northwest Conference Men's Tennis Tournament at the Whitman Outdoor Courts.
“We fought our tails off today, but we were just outmatches,” Pacific Director of Tennis
Brian Jackson said. “I am so proud of my guys and the way they played today. This was a great learning experience for our young guys and the tournament will hopefully provide the bad taste in our mouth that will motivate us to work hard this summer.”
The Missionaries, who did not lose a match to a conference opponent this season, jumped out to the early 3-0 lead by sweeping the doubles matches.
Troy Zuroske (Jr., Richland, Wash.) and
Lorne Bulling (Fr., Corvallis, Ore.) fought to a tiebreaker against Colton Malesovas and Andrew La Cava in the No. 1 match, but the Whitman duo just outlasted to take the 9-8 (7-5) victory.
Steven Roston and Andy Riggs blanked
Kolin Wong (Sr., Captain Cook, Hawaii) and
Alen Suklje (So., Beaverton, Ore.) 8-0 at No. 2, while Matt Tesmond and Sam Sadeghi secured the doubles sweep with an 8-3 victory over
David Yanagita (Fr., Minneapolis, Minn.) and
Brandon Schlack (So., Long Beach, Calif.).
Whitman then proceeded to win two quick matches in the singles to close out the match. Riggs was a 6-4, 6-0 winner over Suklje in the No. 2 flight and Roston ended things with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Bulling at No. 4. Zuroske trailed Malesovas 6-0, 4-2, at No. 1 and Schlack trailed Sadeghi at No. 3, 6-4, 4-3, when the match was ended.
Whitman improved to 18-6 on the season and will face the winner of the Pacific Lutheran/George Fox match being contested on Saturday night. Pacific ends the season at 5-12.
Jackson gave a nod to Wong at the end match, who ended his Pacific career with his matches in the tournament. “I am so proud of Kolin and his leadership this year,” Jackson said. “We will miss having him on court with us and will do our best to follow his hard work and effort next year.”
