March 15, 2008

Lutes Sweep NWC Opponents, Keep Firm Grasp on Second Place

PLU 9, Willamette 0
PLU 7, Lewis & Clark 2

Kevin Floyd

TACOMA – Pacific Lutheran kept a firm grasp on second place in the Northwest Conference men’s tennis standings with a pair of wins on Saturday at the UPS Tennis Pavilion. The Lutes started the day with a 9-0 morning win over Willamette and then came back in the late afternoon to defeat Lewis & Clark, 7-2.

With the wins, the Lutes improve to 10-5 overall and to 10-2 in the Northwest Conference. They trail only Whitman, which is unbeaten in 10 conference counters. Whitworth holds down third place with an 8-4 record.

PLU got a strong performance from Kevin Floyd in the win against Willamette. He teamed up with doubles partner Justin Larimore to record an 8-4 victory at No. 1 before swamping Willamette’s Eric MacMillan, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1 singles. Floyd earned a measure of revenge for a three-set loss to MacMillan back on Feb. 16.

The Lutes finished off the opening doubles competition with an 8-6 win from Justin Peterson and Michael Manser at No. 2 and an 8-3 victory from Scott Sheldon and Jared Vidano at No. 3.

Taking a cue from Floyd, the Lutes rolled through the Bearcats in straight sets in all but one singles match. Larimore defeated Matt Houser at No. 2 singles, 6-3, 6-2, and Scott Peterson followed with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Andrew Murakami at No. 3. Manser recorded a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Fitz Paccione at No. 4, and Tory Silvestrin whipped Alex Sepenzis at No. 6. The Lutes’ only non-straight-sets victory came at No. 5 singles where Sheldon topped Luke Lagatutta in a super tie-breaker, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 10-5.

After a three-hour break, the Lutes came back to whip Lewis & Clark, 7-2, with about half of the Lutes’ top players sitting out the singles competition.

PLU started with wins in two of the three doubles events. Floyd and Larimore switched spots with Peterson and Manser and recorded an 8-1 win, while Vidano and Sheldon teamed up for an 8-3 win at No. 3. The Pioneers won at No. 1 doubles with George Allen and Dirk Frouws beating Peterson and Manser, 8-6.

The Lutes won five of the six singles matches, with Peterson leading off by moving up two spots to the top singles spots and beating Allen, 7-6, 6-4. The Lutes’ only singles loser was Sheldon, who moved up from No. 5 in the morning to No. 2 in the afternoon and lost to Frouws, 6-4, 6-2.

Silvestrin jumped three spots to No. 3 and beat Andrew Moller, 6-2, 6-0, and rounding out the PLU singles winners were James Crosetto at No. 4, Vidano at No. 5 and John deMars at No. 6.

- PLU -