Men's Tennis Continues Dominant Play In 2015

5/26/2015 2:09:00 PM

Men's Tennis 2015 Season Review

By Blake Timm '98, Sports Information Director

ONCE, TWICE, THREE TIMES A FIRST TEAM SELECTION: One of the lynchpins in Pacific's rise to the upper half of the Northwest Conference standings leaves Forest Grove as a three-time First Team All-NWC selection. Giancarlo Battaglia was named to the conference's top squad for the third consecutive year and ends his career as a four-time all-conference selection.

Battaglia capped his Pacific career with his best season yet, leading the Boxers with a 14-6 record in singles, all in the No. 1 flight, and 10-1 in conference matches. In the Apr. 30 ITA Division III West Region rankings, Battaglia was the No. 21 ranked singles player and was ranked as high as 15th earlier in the year. He opened the season by winning his first seven matches and nine of his first 11, including a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kainoa Rosa of Division II Hawaii Hilo and a 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 win over Zach Newlin of Whitman. Battaglia also went 3-1 in three-set matches. In doubles, Battaglia amassed five matches with a varsity of partners.

"I'm very happy for Giancarlo to be recognized for such a great final season," head coach Brian Jackson said. "He has been an outstanding leader on the court for us over the last four years and it is fitting that he was able to end with one of his most impressive seasons. During the regular season, Giancarlo beat every player he was matched up against at the No. 1 position, losing only to the winner of the fall ITA Tournament. He is ending his career as one of the top players in the NWC."

FAITH, FRAZIER ALSO EARN FIRST TEAM NODS: The last two years of success for Pacific tennis could not have been possible without the contributions of Brennan Faith and Grayson Frazier, both of whom also end their Pacific career with First Team All-NWC selections.

Faith finished the year with a 10-5 singles record, 9-4 in the No. 2 flight, was 6-2 in conference matches and earned NWC Men's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week honors three times. Like Battaglia, Faith opened the season with seven straight wins, topped by a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Whitman's Petar Jivkov. He missed parts of the final three weeks of the season with injuries, but remained a key contributor in doubles. Faith went 12-5 in doubles when paired with Frazier, who were the No. 8 ranked doubles team in the west region in the Apr. 30 ITA poll.

"Although the season didn't end the way that Brennan hoped after his injury, Brennan once again showed that he is one of the strongest players in the conference," Jackson said. "He was dominant in the first half of the season in both singles and doubles and, although he didn't quite have his legs back at the end of the season, he played a very important position for us in singles and won some very big doubles matches."

Frazier closed out his Pacific career with a 12-6 record in singles, including a 9-1 mark in NWC matches, to go along with his stellar mark in doubles with Faith. The Boxers' king of three-set matches, Frazier played in 10 of them with a 7-3 record. He won his first four matches of the season, including defeats of Hawaii Hilo's Daniel Tada and Whitman's Philip Locklear, and won four of his last five to close out the season.

"This was an amazing year for Grayson and an excellent way to end his career," Jackson said. "Grayson arguably had one of the best overall seasons not only on our team, but in the conference as a whole. He is one of the best doubles players I have ever coached, but Grayson really began to embrace his unique and effective singles game this year. I am so proud of the contribution he made to the program in his two years here."

ANOTHER BANNER SEASON: With as impressive as Pacific's 2014 run to the NWC Tournament, head coach Brian Jackson thinks the success of the 2015 season was more so. While the team's 15-6 overall record was two losses more than 2014 and their 10-2 NWC record was one loss more, Jackson points to the more difficult schedule, which stretched the Boxers' playing ability.

Of the Boxers' six losses, all came against nationally ranked opponents. Pacific matched up against Whitman three times, losing by a competitive 6-3 margin in the two regular season meetings and dropping a 5-1 decision in the championship of the NWC Tournament.

Pacific started the season exceptionally strong, winning eight of their first nine matches (broken up only by the first loss to Whitman). The Boxers had their earliest start to a spring season yet, opening on Jan. 30 with a 7-2 victory over Division II Hawaii Hilo in a neutral site match in Kent, Wash. After splitting with the eastern Washington schools, Pacific went on to win their next six matches. Seven of the eight wins during that stretch were by scores of 7-2 or better.

The 7-2 win over Ozarks (Ark.) on Mar. 19 not only ended a six-match winning streak, but it also closed the Boxers' 2015 home schedule. Thanks to the NWC's unbalanced round-robin-and-a-half schedule, Pacific played all of their home matches in March and finished the regular season with 10 road matches.

The spring break southern California trip proved a good test of the Boxers' playing ability. The team went 2-3 on the swing, scoring 8-1 wins over Caltech and RPI. Pacific returned to the Northwest and finished strong in April, winning four of their last five matches.

Traveling again to Walla Walla, Wash., for the NWC Tournament, Pacific excelled in their semifinal match with George Fox with one of their weaknesses, sweeping the doubles en route to a 5-3 victory. That set up a rematch with Whitman in the final and the Missionaries proved too much on their home courts. Whitman swept the doubles matches to gain momentum and the eventual 5-1 win.

Pacific finished the year as one of the top men's tennis programs in the west, earning a No. 10 regional ranking in the Apr. 30 ITA polls. The Boxers joined Whitman as the only NWC programs to finish with a top-10 regional ranking.

BY THE NUMBERS: Simply put, the Boxers were a dominant team in 2015. Pacific won 65.6 percent of their singles matches (80-42) and improved to 75 percent in conference play (54-18). In the top three singles flights, Pacific finished with a .704 win percentage (43-18). Only one Pacific player finished with more than six losses and all 11 players had winning records. In doubles, Pacific finished the season winning 61.9 percent of their matches (39-24) and 69.4 percent against conference foes (25-11). Pacific was most successful in the No. 3 flight, going 15-6 (.714 win percentage).

SOPHOMORE STRENGTH: After seeing almost exclusive action in doubles as a freshman, Reuben Mulhern proved a critical part of the Boxers' successes in both singles and doubles. Mulhern was a mainstay in the lower flights in singles, going 11-4 overall after winning all five of his matches as a freshman. He opened 2015 with five straight wins, which means Mulhern won the first 10 singles matches of his collegiate career. He ended the year going 7-1 against NWC opponents, with his one loss coming in three sets to Whitman's Jake Hoeger.

Mulhern proved to be just as potent in doubles, going 10-4 with three different partners. With regular partner Josh Bernstein, Mulhern finished with an 8-2 record in the No. 3 flight. The two posted a pair of victories over Whitman's tandem of Petar Jivkov and Robert Carter, including an 8-6 win in the NWC Tournament championship match.

G'DAY MATE: Oscar Wight traveled halfway around the world to play tennis for Pacific, and his international presence has been well noticed outside of his long hair and down under accent. The Adelaide, Australia, native was a key player for the Boxers in doubles, finishing with a 10-8 record. Wight went 9-5 paired with Clark Wininger and the two went 5-2 in NWC play together. At one point, the duo won four matches in a row in NWC competition. Wight was used more sparingly in singles, going 5-4 at a varsity of positions from No. 3 to No. 6.

WININGER WINS: Clark Wininger, meanwhile, proved a critical part of the Boxers' successes in both singles and doubles. The sophomore finished the season with an 11-7 in doubles, 9-5 in matches with Wight, and split his remaining matches with three other partners. With as good as he was in the No. 3 flight, Wininger also finished with a 4-1 record in No. 2 doubles. In singles, Wininger finished the year 9-8, with the bulk of his matches in the No. 4 flight. He was 6-4 in NWC singles competition.

SLOW BERN: Completing the equation in both singles and doubles was Josh Bernstein, who only added to the potency of the Boxers' lineup. The sophomore finished the season at 8-6 in singles and won four of his last five matches of the season, including a 6-4, 6-4 win over George Fox's Mitchell Miyashiro at the NWC Championship.

Bernstein was most successful in doubles, going 9-6 in matches at both the No. 2 and No. 3 flights. He went 8-2 when paired with Reuben Mulhern, including a 7-0 mark at the No. 3 tandem. Bernstein and Mulhern won their last five matches of the season and took a pair of matches in the run from Whitman's Petar Jivkov and Robert Carter to bookend the winning streak.

SEASON SUMMARY
Overall Record: 15-6
NWC Record: 10-2 (2nd, earned No. 2 seed in NWC Tournament)
Record At Home: 4-2 Away Record: 8-3 Neutral Site: 2-2
Final West Regional Ranking (ITA): 10

SEASON HONORS
First Team All-Northwest Conference: Giancarlo Battaglia, Brennan Faith, Grayson Frazier
NWC Men's Tennis Student-Athlete of the Week: Brennan Faith (Feb. 2), Mar. 16, Mar. 30)

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