REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team had a hiccup Wednesday afternoon falling 6-3 to No. 26 Colby College.
A day after nearly pulling off an upset of No. 11 George Fox University the Maroon and Grey dropped their second in a row and move to 6-4, 1-0 SCIAC.
Once again doubles got off to a slow start with the Bulldogs seeing themselves down 2-1 early. Stefan Hester (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) and Thomas Reznik (Belmont, CA) fell 8-4 at No. 1 and Luke Watson (Bury St. Edmunds, UK) and Donovan Lilov (San Diego, CA) would drop an 8-4 decision at No. 3 putting Colby on top 2-0. The decisive point came at No. 2 from Jack Mattox (Mercer Island, WA) and Andrew Yip (Honolulu, HI) who went the distance battling every point eventually pulling out a breaker 8-7 (5) putting UR on the scoreboard.
In singles Colby pulled their No. 5 singles player forcing everyone to move up a spot for the visitors. Hester leveled the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win at the top spot, but after that Colby would roll taking points at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 to clinch the upset. Lilov fell 6-3, 6-2 (No. 4), Nelson stayed close in the second but dropped in straights 6-2, 6-4 (No. 5) and Max Hoffman (Taipei, Taiwan) who was put back into the lineup couldn't overcome a break in each set falling 6-4, 6-4 (No. 6). Mattox collected the third point on the afternoon at No. 2 needing a three-setter and having to come back from a set down to win 2-6, 7-5, 10-6. The final match on was Yip who also went the distance, but he was a set up at 6-2 before seeing his opponent rally for the comeback win 7-6 (4), 10-7.
Redlands has their third match this week when they host UC Santa Cruz this Friday, March 25 beginning at 3:00pm.
Coach's Thoughts
"The men had another tough test against their fifth nationally ranked opponent on the season and their second in two days. We fought till the last point but unfortunately couldn't capitalize on our opportunities. Against the toughest teams you may only get one or two chances to take the match. Today we missed, but we need to put it behind us and look forward to match-ups with UC Santa Cruz and Tufts this weekend."
Coach's Shoutout
"Stefan Hester had a solid straight sets win against a quality opponent at No. 1 singles. Stef has really stepped up for us at the top and has produced some great results in recent weeks. I am really happy will how consistent he has been playing."