Box ScoreWHITTIER, Calif. – In their second match this season against a nationally ranked opponent, Pacific gave No. 3 Middlebury a run at a number of flights, but it was not enough as the Boxers opened their southern California road trip with a 9-0 loss to the Panthers in men's tennis action at Whittier College's Richard Ettinger Tennis Courts.
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"Middlebury lived up to their ranking today, but we were toe to toe with them in singles," said Pacific Head Coach
Brian Jackson of last year's NCAA Division III national semifinalists. "We just couldn't win the big points. The overall score does not represent the fight we gave them. We look forward to bouncing back tomorrow with a big doubleheader."
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The Boxers (8-2) provided the Panthers (6-0) a pair of close battles at doubles. The day opened with
Brennan Faith (So., Redondo Beach, Calif.) and
Grayson Frazier (La Canada, Calif.) taking an 8-2 loss to Palmer Campbell and Peter Heidrich at No. 1.Â
Clark Wininger (So., San Francisco, Calif.) and
Oscar Wight (Fr., Adelaide, Australia) battled close with Chris Frost and William De Quant at No. 3, falling 8-5, while
Josh Bernstein (So., Novato, Calif.) and
Reuben Mulhern (So., Boise, Idaho) falling 8-5 to Ari Smolyar and Noah Farrell at No. 2.
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Farrell provided Middlebury a 4-0 lead as he opened the singles with a 6-3, 6-0 defeat of
Giancarlo Battaglia (Sr., Thousand Oaks, Calif.) at No. 1. Allen Jackson clinched the team victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Wininger at No. 4. Bernstein provided De Quant a close match at No. 5, but the Panthers prevailed by a 7-5, 6-3 score. Timo van der Geest added a 6-1, 7-6 win over Mulhern at No. 6 and Jackson Frons was a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Faith at No. 2.Â
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Courtney Mountfield and Frazier engaged in the tightest match of the afternoon, with Frazier taking a 7-6 first set before Mountfield came back to win the second and a tight super tiebreaker for the 6-7, 6-2, 10-6 win.
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Pacific will play two matches on Monday. The Boxers travel first to Pasadena to take on Caltech at 9:30 a.m. After that, the Boxers will be at Biola University in La Mirada to face RPI at 5 p.m.
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