Unimpressive in Ojai

Lutes men’s tennis complete season in California, look forward to next season

Ellen Kanuch - kanuches@plu.edu

Mast Sports Reporter

Senior Justin Larimore was the only Lutes men’s tennis player to win a match Friday April 25 at the Ojai Valley Tournament in Ojai, Calif. The tournament featured most of the top NCAA Division III tennis players on the West Coast.

“We had a lot of fun, we played a lot of good people, unfortunately we didn’t win, but going to the beach made up for our losses,” said Sophomore Michael Manser.

Larimore started out strong as he took a victory in his first match in singles against Ben Hough from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. Unfortunately, later on he was defeated by his opponent Silvio Chiba from UC Santa Cruz, 6-3, 6-3.

The rest of the Lutes didn’t share the same success as Larimore. Sophomore Kevin Floyd lost 7-5, 7-5 to Kevin Wong from Redlands, and Sophomore Justin Peterson fell a 6-4, 6-2 to Mike Reading, also from Redlands. Sophomore Michael Manser went into a third set against Michael Starr from Claremont-Mudd-Scripps before dropping, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

In doubles action, the No. 5 seed of Larimore and Floyd were beat by Kian Fattahi and Colin Mark-Griffin from UC Santa Cruz, 8-1, and the Manser and Peterson pair were knocked down 8-2 by Wong and Jeff Hammond from Redlands.

The Lutes have a lot to show for this season as they finish in second-place in the Northwest Conference regular season standings and postseason tournament.

PLU will also be looking forward to next year with a strong recruiting class coming in.

Photo by Scott Sheldon

Sophomore Kevin Floyd soars to a ball in an attempt to hit a winner during a match in California over spring break. The top four Lutes returned to the Sunshine State last weekend to compete in the Ojai Invitational.