The No. 15 University of Redlands men's tennis team battled it out against the No. 10 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Sagehens in Saturday's semifinal of the 2016 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship Tournament in Claremont.  After earning a 2-1 doubles lead, the Bulldogs competed until the very end but ultimately fell short of the upset in a 3-5 decision.

Amidst a dead-even competition, the No. 3 tandem of graduate student Taylor Hunt (Seattle, WA) and junior Parker Wilson (Carlsbad, CA) came up with a critical break to eventually nab the 8-6 victory. 

Although the Sagehens responded at the No. 2 slot, the Bulldogs answered back with an impressive 8-6 showing by the top duo of junior Jake Ly (Torrance, CA) and sophomore Joey Dulle (St. Louis, MO).  After earning a big break, Dulle held serve at love to secure the team's 2-1 advantage.

In singles, the back-and-forth nature of the match continued, as Pomona-Pitzer came up with a pair of wins for a 3-2 lead.

But Redlands' freshman Chase Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) rallied for a hard-fought 6-4, 7-6(2) triumph at the top slot to even the overall tally.

The remaining three matches went the distance in three sets, providing plenty of drama and excitement for the spectators.  Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Pomona-Pitzer prevailed in the next two off the court to secure the victory. 

Redlands (17-7, 6-3 SCIAC) faces Whittier College on Sunday, May 8, in the third-place match at 2 p.m. on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.