May 7, 2007

MEN’S TENNIS: Lutes Fall to No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

LAST WEEK: The Pacific Lutheran men’s tennis team fell to the nation's number two team, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 6-0, in the NCAA Division III tournament.

MATCH SUMMARY: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps swept the doubles and won at numbers 1, 2, and 5 singles to beat Pacific Lutheran, 6-0, and advance to the third round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championships. The Stags lost to No. 1-ranked UC Santa Cruz, 5-1, in Sunday's final, meaning that UCSC advances to the eight-team national championships scheduled for May 15-17 in St. Louis, Mo. For Pacific Lutheran, which won its third consecutive Northwest Conference title to reach the NCAA postseason, the dual match season comes to an end with a 16-10 overall record. CMS showed why it is ranked No. 2 in the nation by defeating a red-hot Pacific Lutheran team. Guillaume Schils and Larry Wang got CMS off to a good start with an 8-5 doubles victory over PLU's David Miller and Justin Larimore, who last Sunday won the doubles title at the prestigious Ojai Tournament. After sweeping the doubles points, the Stags put the match away with singles wins from Wang, Will Ellison and Schils. The other three singles matches were discontinued once CMS wrapped up the team victory. The Stags led two of those matches, while Larimore had a one-set lead over Eric Chow at No. 4 singles.

SINGLES AND DOUBLES: The season isn’t necessarily over for the Lute racket wielders. Pacific Lutheran's Miller and Larimore now await word concerning their possible participation in the national championship doubles tournament. Miller also has an outside chance at a spot in the singles draw. The individual championships will be held from May 18-20 in St. Louis.

DIVISION III TOURNEY HISTORY: Seven years ago, a Pacific Lutheran tennis player created one of the biggest upsets in PLU sports history. In 2000, Lute senior Clayton Harris was seeded No. 32 in the 32-man field in the NCAA Division III Tennis National Singles Championships. Harris faced Venu Antila of Averett College (Danville, Va.), the No. 1 seed in the tournament and the top player in the country, in his first match. Harris created history when he beat Antila, 6-0, 6-2, earning All-American honors by advancing to the round of 16. Harris fell in the second round but he had left his mark. “It was incredible,” said then PLU co-head coach Doug Gardner of Harris’ victory. “He read the story of David and Goliath and that helped motivate him. He jumped on the guy right from the start.”

ALL-AMERICANS: Pacific Lutheran men’s tennis has had five players earn All-American status. Dave Traegeser and Mike Hoeger were the first to become All-Americans in the 1970s. Trageser was an NAIA singles championship runner-up, and he and Hoeger finished second in doubles at an NAIA championship. Recent All-Americans include Clayton Harris in 2000 and doubles partners Ricky Butenko and Matt Larimore in 2005.

- PLU -