2008 Men's Tennis Outlook

In spite of losing two all-Americans, from a team that had won back-to-back Northwest Conference championships, the 2007 Lutes finished with a 14-2 regular season conference record, behind only Whitman's perfect 16-0 record. Pacific Lutheran upset Whitman in the conference tournament, however, to earn its 33rd conference title since 1970.

The good news for the Lutes? Only two seniors graduated from that team: first-team all-NWC performer Jeff Loranger and all-American doubles player David Miller.

Returning for the Lutes are 2007 first-team all-conference sophomore Kevin Floyd (10-12 singles, 13-9 doubles in 2007), as well as second-team all-conference performers Justin Larimore (12-7 singles, 17-6 doubles in 2007) and Justin Peterson (13-12 singles, 15-11 doubles in 2007). Larimore, a senior from Puyallup, earned all-American recognition for his impressive performance in doubles competition.

Other key returnees include junior James Crosetto (8-2 singles, 2-0 doubles in 2007) of Eatonville, junior John DeMars (5-1 singles, 4-0 doubles in 2007) of Woodinville, and senior Jared Vidano (9-12 singles, 12-10 doubles in 2007) of Wenatchee. Vidano and Larimore are the only two seniors on this year's team, which features six juniors and four sophomores.

Key newcomers this season include sophomore Michael Manser from Boise, Idaho, and freshman Scott Shelden from Edmonds. Both could work their way into the top six this season and push their veteran teammates.

Rounding out the 2008 squad are brothers Alex (2-0 singles, 3-0 doubles in 2007) and Drew Eli (2-0 singles, 3-0 doubles in 2007), freshman Benjamin Fox, sophomore Vincent Kearns (0-1 singles, 1-0 doubles in 2007), and juniors James Odan (1-0 singles, 2-0 doubles in 2007) and Tory Silvestrin (7-0 singles, 4-0 doubles in his PLU career), who returns to the Lutes after not playing last season.