March 13, 2008

MEN’S TENNIS: PLU Hosts Willamette, Lewis & Clark in NWC Matches

THIS WEEK: Pacific Lutheran hosts Willamette, Saturday, 10 a.m.; PLU hosts Lewis & Clark, Saturday, 2 p.m.

LUTES HOST WILLAMETTE, LEWIS & CLARK: Pacific Lutheran puts its 8-2 Northwest Conference record on the line this Saturday when it hosts Willamette and Lewis & Clark in conference clashes. The matches are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, at the PLU courts. If the weather is bad, the teams will play their matches at the UPS Tennis Pavilion. If that happens, the Willamette match will start at 9 a.m. and the Lewis & Clark match at 3 p.m. The decision to move the matches to the indoor venue will be made by Friday based on weather forecasts.

A LOOK AT THE CONFERENCE STANDINGS: Whitman currently leads the Northwest Conference standings with a perfect 10-0 mark, followed by PLU at 8-2 and Whitworth at 8-4. Willamette comes into Saturday's action with a 5-3 record, tied for fourth with Linfield, while Lewis & Clark is 2-7 in the conference, good for seventh in the nine-team standings.

RETURN MATCHES: The Lutes have already faced and beaten both Willamette and Lewis & Clark on Feb. 16 in Oregon. PLU swept Lewis & Clark by a 9-0 score and beat Willamette by a 7-2 count. PLU put its top three doubles teams on the court to open against Lewis & Clark and won all three matches. In singles play, four of the top six played, with No. 1 Kevin Floyd and then-No. 3 Michael Manser sitting out. Floyd and Manser combined for a win at No. 2 doubles, while Jared Vidano and James Crosetto took the No. 3 doubles victory. Justin Larimore and Justin Peterson combined for the win at No. 1 doubles. Larimore, Peterson, Vidano and Scott Sheldon all won in the top four singles slots, while John deMars and Troy Silvestrin stepped in and garnered wins at No. 5 and No. 6. Against Willamette, Floyd and Manser won at No. 2 doubles and Vidano and Crosetto took the victory at No. 3, with the Bearcats taking the win at No. 1. Eric MacMillan provided the Bearcats with their only win in singles, outlasting Floyd, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, in the No. 1 slot. After that, the Lutes swept the singles competition with wins from Larimore, Manser, Peterson, Vidano and Sheldon.

CALIFORNIA TRIP LOOMS: A highlight of every season for the PLU men’s team is a trip to face some of the west’s top-ranked NCAA Division III and NAIA opponents. This year is no exception as the Lutes will face Point Loma Nazarene (NAIA), Redlands, Pomona-Pitzer and Middlebury on consecutive days, March 24-27. Middlebury, a Vermont school that boasts one of the top Division III programs in the country, will present an interesting and new challenge to the Lutes as these teams have never faced one another.

LAST WEEK: PLU used three different lineups in three men's tennis matches last Saturday and came away with two wins and a loss. The day started for one team of Lutes with a 5-2 loss to NCAA Division I Portland State. A different set of Lutes traveled here to the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center and rolled past the Pacific Boxers, 8-1 and 9-0, in a Northwest Conference doubleheader. Portland State won two of the three doubles matches to win the doubles point (only one team point is awarded in Division I play) and get the upper hand on the Lutes. PLU's Kevin Floyd and Justin Larimore won at No. 2 doubles, defeating Sean Eberle and Adam Blackner, 8-3. Picking up wins for PLU in singles action were Justin Peterson at No. 3 and Michael Manser at No. 4. In the first contest against Pacific, the Lutes proved dominant, losing only one singles match and allowing the Boxers to win just 13 games in the remaining five singles flights. PLU played that match with only two of its top six singles players. Jared Vidano moved from No. 5 to No. 1 and whipped Michael Okada, 6-2, 6-1, while Scott Sheldon moved up from No. 6 to No. 2 and beat Aaron Shapiro, 6-2, 6-0. Other PLU singles winners were Tory Silvestrin at No. 3, James Odan at No. 4 and Brent Smoots at No. 6. The Lutes swept all of the doubles with Vidano and Sheldon at No. 1, Silvestrin and Odan at No. 2 and Smoots and Vince Kearns at No. 3. PLU's afternoon lineup proved an even more formidable challenge for the Boxers, with Peterson and Manser coming down for singles and doubles and Floyd and Larimore playing doubles following the Portland State match. Peterson played No. 1 singles and beat Okada, 6-3, 6-1, while Manser played No. 2 and blanked Shapiro, 6-0, 6-0. Vidano and Sheldon moved down to No. 3 and No. 4 and easily won, while Alex Eli and Benjamin Fox both picked up victories at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively. Floyd and Larimore won at No. 1 doubles, Peterson and Manser at No. 2 doubles and Alex Eli and Drew Eli at No. 3 doubles.

- PLU -