Multiple members of the No. 21 University of Redlands men's tennis team competed in the 119th Annual Ojai Tournament over the weekend with impressive results. The Bulldogs produced a finalist in the main singles draw and sent two teams to the consolation doubles final in a fine performance.
Seeded fifth in the event, senior Chase Lipscomb (Irvine, CA) advanced all the way to the final while dropping only one set in four matches. He began the tournament with a resounding 6-0, 6-1 victory over Chapman University's Igor DaSilva before firing off a 6-3, 6-4 showing against Isaiah Volk from Cal Lutheran University. Lipscomb continued to roll by topping second-seeded Jed Kronenberg from Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in a 6-0, 6-3 decision. He punched his ticket to the final by rallying back to defeat Yahn Gawrit of CLU, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. While facing fourth-seeded Nikolai Parodi of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, Lipscomb came up short in a tough 6-1, 6-1 loss.
First-year Thomas Reznik (Belmont, CA) recorded the only other win in the main singles draw, as he defeated Kris Harris from UC Santa Cruz, 6-3, 6-0, before losing to the eventual champion.
After dropping his opening singles match, junior Brad Cummins (Rancho Mirage, CA) orchestrated a solid run through the consolation bracket with a trip to the semifinals. He completed a pair of comeback wins over Chapman University's Len Kamemoto (1-6, 6-4, 10-6) and Whittier College's Thomas Koszowski (2-6, 7-6, 10-6).
In doubles, the Bulldogs suffered a tough main-draw showing but quickly regrouped in the consolation bracket, as two teams from Redlands met in the final. After their opponents withdrew, Cummins and sophomore Brysl Libao (Redlands, CA) captured an 8-7 win over Caltech's Varun Shanker and James Wei in a key match-up. Reznik and first-year Andrew Yip (Honolulu, HI) took care of business against Chapman's Kamemoto and Adrien Rooney, 8-6, before defeating Ivan Derrick and David Zhang of Occidental College by the same score.
The two Redlands tandems faced off in the consolation championship, with Libao and Cummins gaining the 8-7 win in an exciting match.
Redlands (13-5) looks forward to a rematch against No. 18 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges in the semifinal of the 2019 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament, which begins on Friday, May 3, in Claremont at 1 p.m.