April 24, 2007

MEN’S TENNIS: Lutes Continue Northwest Conference Dominance

THIS WEEK: A total of five Pacific Lutheran players will compete this coming weekend at the prestigious Ojai Tournament in Ojai, Calif.

THREE IN A ROW: Pacific Lutheran upset favored Whitman, 6-3, to win its third straight men’s title at the 2007 Northwest Conference Tennis Championships held Saturday at the Yakima Tennis Club. Pacific Lutheran has now won 28 of the past 36 Northwest Conference men’s tennis titles and placed second in the other eight. Pacific Lutheran, the tournament's No. 2 seed, and Whitman, the No. 1 seed, matched up in the men’s final for the fourth straight year. The Lutes stunned a Whitman team that had not lost a conference match, including 7-2 and 5-4 regular season victories over the Lutes.

TITLE MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: The Lutes, who finished the regular season conference schedule with a 14-2 record, built strong momentum with a convincing 8-1 semifinal victory over Linfield on Friday afternoon. “We had a great day today,” Craig Hamilton, PLU co-head coach said after the title match. “We played our two best matches of the year in the last two days.” The Lutes won two of the three doubles matches to get off to a solid start. David Miller and Justin Larimore showed that they were up to the task against the highly regarded Whitman duo of Phalkun Mam and Steven Ly by garnering an 8-6 victory at the No. 1 slot. Whitman’s Robbie Munday and Christoph Fuchs beat Justin Peterson and Jeff Loranger, 9-7, in a tightly contested No. 2 doubles match. The Lutes picked up the swing doubles point with a stunning win from Jared Vidano and Kevin Floyd, who beat Matt Solomon and Nadeem Kassam, 8-5. The Whitman pair had shown its ability way back in the fall with a doubles championship in the ITA regional tournament. The fate of both teams hinged on a pair of closely contested matches at the No. 1 and No. 3 singles flights. After losing the first set, Miller battled back against Mam to take a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory at No. 1 singles. On the next court, Loranger managed the same type of rally to capture the No. 3 flight over Munday, winning 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Larimore beat Solomon 6-3, 7-5 at No. 4, and Peterson topped Fuchs 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5, for the other PLU singles wins.

LUTES CLAW WILDCATS: The Lutes, who earned a first round bye, showed that they were focused for the conference tournament in the semifinal round with a convincing 8-1 victory over No. 3 seed Linfield. PLU opened the match by winning all three doubles points, though two of the matches went into extra games. David Miller and Justin Larimore had no trouble at No. 1 doubles, beating Wes Gabrielson and Kyle Anderson, 8-3. The action was much tighter at No. 2 where Justin Peterson and Jeff Loranger were pushed to a super tiebreaker before beaging Ian McGrath and Jon Roberts, 9-8 (10-8). It was much the same at No. 3 where Jared Vidano and Kevin Floyd held on to beat Nick Reuss and Cole Shelton, 9-7. The singles matches weren't nearly as close, however, as the Lutes rolled in straight sets in all of their victories. Miller was especially impressive at No. 1, whipping Ian McGrath, 6-1, 6-0. Also winning in straight sets were Floyd at No. 2, Loranger at No. 3, Larimore at No. 4 and Vidano at No. 6. Linfield won its only point at No. 5 singles where Anderson beat Peterson in a super tiebreaker, 3-6, 6-4, (10-1). "They played really, really well," PLU coach Craig Hamilton said of his team. "Linfield has good doubles teams and we won all of those, and that got us some momentum for singles. I was very happy with today."

OFF TO REGIONALS: As a result of winning the conference championship the Lutes, 16-9 overall this season, earn the league’s automatic qualifying berth in the NCAA Division III West Regional Championships. The regional tournament will be held May 4-6 at a site yet to be determined.

FIVE LUTES NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE: A total of five Pacific Lutheran players have earned All-Northwest Conference recognition. Seniors David Miller and Jeff Loranger and freshman Kevin Floyd all were named to the first team, while junior Justin Larimore and freshman Kevin Peterson were second team picks. Miller is a repeat first team selection after earning second team honors in 2005. The other four Lutes received their first all-conference recognition this season.

OJAI NEXT ON THE SLATE: Five Pacific Lutheran players will use this weekend’s Ojai Tournament as a warm-up for the regional tournament. David Miller and Justin Larimore, the team’s top doubles unit, have received the No. 8 seed in doubles play. Miller, PLU’s top singles player, will not play in the singles competition. Kevin Floyd, Jeff Loranger, Justin Peterson and Larimore are all entered in the singles competition. Loranger and Peterson will also play doubles.

- PLU -