Nils Plutat picks up two wins to lead Bulldog Men’s Tennis against No. 5 Tufts

Image Credit: Ron Stephany
Image Credit: Ron Stephany
Posted: Mar 23, 2023

REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team faced a tough match-up with No. 5 Tufts University Thursday afternoon at the Verdieck Tennis Center. 

The match was scheduled for 11:00am, but due to the wet courts it was pushed back a few hours and didn't get started until the early afternoon.

Senior Transfer Nils Plutat (Sauerlach, Bavaria, Germany) led the Maroon and Grey picking up a pair of wins as he and fellow transfer Bryce Keim (Spartanburg, S.C.) knocked off the No. 2 ranked team in Division III beating Acaroglu/Vuksanovic 8-4.  The other two matches would go the way of the Jumbos who would take a 2-1 lead into singles.  At No. 2 doubles Stefan Hester (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) and Jack Mattox (Mercer Island, WA) fell 8-4 and at No. 3 Omar Khayat (Irvine, CA) and Luca Davidorf (Atlanta, GA) would drop an 8-1 decision. 

Due to timing the Jumbos were forced to take out their top two singles players and bring a group of athletes on the road to take on Pomona-Pitzer in an evening match-up.  This forced their lineup to change but they still came away with five of six singles victories. 

Plutat picked up the lone point for the Bulldogs coming at the top spot as he would roll 6-2, 6-1 leveling the match at 2-2.  After that Tufts would pick up the next three points with Keim falling 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3, Donovan Lilov (San Diego, CA) dropping in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 and Davidorf battling at No. 6 only to drop 6-3, 6-4.

The match was played to decision so two singles matches were still in play and they were going the way of the Bulldogs.  Hester, at No. 2 won his opening set 7-5, dropped the second 6-2 and was about to go to a third set breaker.  The other match on was Mattox at No. 4 who also took the opening frame 7-6 (3) and he was at 1-2 on serve in the second set when it was called.     

Redlands enters Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play Friday afternoon on the road when they travel to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on the Kingsmen of California Lutheran University beginning at 3:00pm.