Stefan Hester leads Bulldog Men’s Tennis at ITA West Regional

Posted: Sep 30, 2022

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III West Regional over the weekend led by junior Stefan Hester (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) and the nine newcomers, four of which are transfers.

Thirteen Bulldogs took part in the three-day event, which included a main draw for doubles and three flights of singles. The tournament was hosted by Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Highlighting the weekend was Hester who was a Flight A Singles Semi-Finalist who also paired with senior Ting Hao Hsu (Taipei, Taiwan) to play doubles finishing as Semi-Finalists in the main draw. First Year Josh Davydov (Bellevue, WA) finished as the Flight B Singles Finalist, First Year Luca Davidorf (Atlanta, GA) was a main draw Singles Quarterfinalist, First Year Omar Khayat (Irvine, CA) was a Flight B Consolation Quarterfinalist, and First Year Arjun Shah (Auckland, New Zealand) was a Flight C Consolation Semi-Finalist.

Doubles Draw

Head Coach Pete Yellico put four teams together for the regional and found something with Hester and Hao Hsu who made it to the Semi-Finals. They came in as the No. 5 seed rolling Luca De Bona/Luca Braan (Whittier) 8-1 and kept the momentum going in the Round of 16 edging Eugen Andres/Ronald Chen (Occidental) 8-7 (3). They continued to move through the draw this time upsetting the No. 2 seed Owen Kelley/Kush Patel (Pomona-Pitzer) 8-6 in the Quarterfinals before falling in the Semi-Finals in a breaker to Matthew Feng/Eshaan Lumba (Pomona-Pitzer) 8-7 (2).

Sophomore Jack Mattox (Mercer Island, WA) and junior Ollie Richards (Whitstable, England) found themselves paired up for the first time as they picked up a No. 5 seeding. They blanked Kieran Carroll/Luuk Van den Hoek (Whittier) 8-0 in the Round of 32 but exited the tournament in the next round falling 8-6 to Darvel Lossangoye/Griffin Biernat (Cal Lutheran).

Graduate Student Bryce Keim (Spartanburg, S.C.) and senior Nils Plutat (Sauerlach, Bavaria, Germany) was another strong pair put together getting selected as a No. 3 seed. They rolled Jacob De La Paz/Friedrich Ludwig (Cal Lutheran) 8-3 to open competition, but ran into Sam Hall/Jason You (UC Santa Cruz) in the Round of 16 falling 8-5.

First Years Khayat and Davydov was the last team put together for the U of R. They dropped their first match to the No. 4 seed Kyle McCandless/Daniel Wen (Caltech) 8-2. Then in the consolation draw had to take on Christopher Li/Michael Hao (Claremont-M-S) again falling this time 8-4.

Flight A Singles

Seven Bulldogs competed in the Flight A Draw, four of which were transfers. Hester had a deep run in the draw finishing as a Semi-Finalist. He came in unseeded, but took out Warren Pham (Claremont-M-S) in a three-setter 5-7, 6-3, 10-8, earned a walk-through in the Round of 16 following the Injury Retirement of Sam Hall (UC Santa Cruz), beat Kyle McCandless (Caltech) in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 before falling to the No. 2 seed Advik Mareedu (Claremont-M-S) 6-3, 6-1 in the Semi-Finals.

Keim, a transfer from Wofford College made an opening statement in the Round of 32, picking up one of the biggest stunners of the tournament coming from behind to beat 2022 SCIAC Newcomer of the Year Spencer Cinco (Whittier) in three sets 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-6. But in the Round of 16 he ran into the top seed Matthew Robinson (Claremont-M-S) and despite getting five games in the second set would fall 6-1, 7-5.

Plutat, one of three transfers from Portland State for the U of R was selected as the No. 4 seed, but failed to get out of the first round getting upset by Ishaan Kannan (Caltech). Plutat rolled in the opening set 6-1, but saw Kannan storm back to take the second 6-4 and the breaker 10-8. Plutat then entered the Consolation Draw where he ran into Ian Habbestad (Claremont-M-S) falling in straight sets 7-5, 7-5.

Mattox, who put together a strong run at the Summer ITA Championship Circuit came in unseeded, but failed to get out of the Round of 32 falling 6-1, 6-1 to Andres Eugen (Occidental). In the Consolation Draw he then matched up against Ethan Lee (Pomona-Pitzer) getting broken in each set to fall 6-3, 6-3.

Richards, another Portland State transfer was put up against the No. 7 seed Kush Patel (Pomona-Pitzer) falling in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. He was supposed to take on Darvel Lossangoye (Cal Lutheran) in the Consolation Draw, but was forced to withdraw due to injury.

Hao Hsu, the last Portland State transfer earned a No. 6 seed for the tournament and despite battling Eshaan Lumba (Pomona-Pitzer) could not make up a break in each set falling 6-4, 6-4. He was set to take on Morgan Schilling (Claremont-M-S) in the Consolation Draw, but was forced to withdrawal.

Donovan Lilov (San Diego, CA) was the last Bulldog in the Flight A Draw. He exited the first round in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to Kyle McCandless (Caltech). He then took on Jing Yuan Chen (UC Santa Cruz) in the Consolation Draw, but again fell in straights 6-2, 6-4.

Flight B Singles

The Flight B was also loaded with Bulldogs. Davidorf was the big highlight picking up a hard fought win in the Round of 32 against Isaac Herrenkohl (Occidental) going three sets winning 1-6, 6-4, 10-7. He then kept the momentum in the Round of 16 beating Mac Caldwell (Chapman), again in another three-setter winning 5-7, 6-2, 10-3. His streak would run out though in the Quarterfinals when he took on the No. 7 seed Lucas Pastor (Colorado College) falling 7-5, 6-2.

Davydov who dropped his opening round match to Victor Li (Caltech) 6-3, 7-5 would go on a run within the Consolation Draw. He beat Mason Marks (Chapman) 6-2, 6-1, Ridley Potter (Occidental) who withdrew due to injury after the first set, and then Aaron Moylan (Cal Lutheran) in the Semi-Finals 6-1, 6-3. In the final he took on Kameron DeHart (Chapman) winning the first set 6-2, but couldn't hold on allowing DeHart back into the match as he would go on to win via comeback 6-4, 11-9 taking the title.

Khayat also had a strong showing in the Consolation Draw after he fell in the Round of 32 to Nathan Zou (Caltech) 6-4, 6-2. He had a walk-through against Josh Blinder (Chapman) and then ran into Julien Sanseverino (Chapman) in the Quarterfinals where he would go the distance falling 4-6, 6-1, 10-12.

Tyler Pyle (Lake Oswego, OR) was the last Bulldog in the draw forcing a third set with the No. 7 seed Lucas Pastor (Colorado College). After dropping the first set 6-1 battled back to take the second 6-4, eventually falling 10-6 in the breaker. In the consolation draw he would go up against eventual champ Kameron DeHart (Chapman). Despite falling in straight sets gave him all he could handle as he would go down 6-3, 7-6 (3).

Flight C Singles

The last two Bulldogs to compete on the day came in the Flight C Draw. First Year Shah took on Hangyu Ai and put together a fight taking the first set 6-3. Ai though was able to battle back to take the second set 6-3 before edging Shah 10-8 in the breaker. In the consolation Shah received a walk-through into the Quarterfinals where he took on Justin Ninomiya (Whittier). Shah would take him out in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, but unfortunately could not continue his run being forced to retire due to injury prior to his Semi-Final match.

Junior Cameron McDaniel (Laguna Niguel, CA) got the call to compete on the weekend. He received a BYE First Round before taking on Luuk Van den Hoek (Whittier). McDaniel picked up the first set 6-4, but couldn't keep the momentum falling 6-1, 10-6. He was then supposed to take on eventual Semi-Finalist Mason Lebby (Whittier) in the Consolation Draw, but was forced to retire due to injury.