VENTURA, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team put together an impressive weekend at the Ojai Tennis Championships in Ventura, CA.
Donovan Lilov (San Diego, CA) led the Bulldogs in singles winning the Consolation Draw. He started his run with an opening Round of 32 loss 7-5, 7-6 (9) nearly pulling off the upset of the No. 2 seed Caleb Wilkins (Chapman University). He then entered the back half of the draw where he rolled to four victories. He made quick work of Lars Wangen 6-0, 6-0, then took out Parker McBride (Cal Lutheran) in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 10-6, before earning a walk-over against Jansen Comadena (Pomona-Pitzer) in the Semi-Finals. After that he squared off against Jing Yuan Chen (UC Santa Cruz) in the Finals winning 6-2, 6-3 in dominating fashion.
Stefan Hester (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA), who was the No. 5 seed in the Open Draw took out Griffin Biernat (Cal Lutheran) 6-3, 4-6, 10-8 and Jake Will (Caltech) 6-3, 6-3 to open up his play. But he then ran into eventual champion Mukund Madabhushi (Pomona-Pitzer) in the Quarterfinals. Hester won the opening set 6-3, but couldn't carry the momentum the rest of the way falling 6-2, 10-7 in the next two frames, ending his run.
Freshman Josh Nelson (Montrose, NY) was able to get past Mac Caldwell (Chapman) in his first round match-up, but that's where his Ojai Championship run would end running into No. 4 Jack Katzman (Claremont-M-S) in the Round of 16 falling 6-3, 6-1.
Jack Mattox (Mercer Island, WA), who also came into the Open Draw as a No. 5 seed faced off against a tough opening round opponent in Daniel Wen (Caltech), dropping in straights 6-2, 6-2 forcing him into the back draw. There he took out Kieran Carroll (Whittier) 6-3, 7-5, but couldn't advance farther running into Jansen Comadena (Pomona-Pitzer) in the Quarterfinals falling 6-2, 6-4.
Max Hoffman (Taipei, Taiwan) was the last Bulldog to compete in singles, but was put into the Independent Draw. There he made it two rounds beating Prayag Ahire (Whittier) 6-3, 6-3 and then Michael Hopkins (Westmont) 6-4, 6-1, before falling to scholarship player Yazid Benchegra (Hope International) 6-2, 6-2 in the Quarterfinals.
In doubles, Hester and Mattox were paired up as the No. 2 seed in the Open Draw winning three matches to earn a spot in the final. They made quick work of Wangen/Kwon (Pacific Lutheran) 8-0, then beat McBride/Moylan (Cal Lutheran), 8-4, before rolling Gundakaram/Wen (Caltech) 8-3. They then had to go against an Baney/Lee (LeTourneau University) in the final fighting their way back from a set down, only to fall in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
Nelson and Lilov was the other doubles pairing in the draw, but they exited the Championships after two matches, first against Comadena/Madabhushi (Pomona-Pitzer) 8-1, and then Gonzalgo/Will (Caltech) 8-4.
Redlands returns to the courts for two SCIAC Dual Matches this weekend to end their regular season. They host Whittier College on Friday, April 29 beginning at 3:00pm before traveling to play Claremont-M-S on Saturday, April 30 (10:00am).