THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team opened up Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play Friday afternoon traveling for the first time to take on California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, CA.  

The Bulldogs came away with the 6-3 victory improving to 5-4, 1-0 SCIAC after taking two of three doubles and four of six singles matches.

Cal Lutheran grabbed the first point of the match coming at No. 3 doubles as first-years Omar Khayat (Irvine, CA) and Luca Davidorf (Atlanta, GA) would fall 8-5.  The other two matches would go the way of the Bulldogs though with Stefan Hester (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA) and Jack Mattox (Mercer Island, WA) grinding out an 8-6 win at No. 2 followed by Nils Plutat (Sauerlach, Bavaria, Germany) and Bryce Keim (Spartanburg, S.C.) winning 8-6 at the top spot. 

This gave UR the momentum heading into singles and they would use it grabbing a point at No. 4 thanks to Mattox who would roll 6-2, 6-1, moving the score to 3-1.  After a tough loss for Hester at No. 2 6-4, 7-5 getting broken once in each set the Maroon and Grey got back on track with Plutat giving up just two games in the top spot beating Lossangoye 6-1, 6-1.  The clinch came at No. 3 from Keim who earned a break in each frame to pull out the 6-3, 6-4 victory.  Donovan Lilov (San Diego, CA) who was playing No. 5 had to go the distance in his match and was able to pull it out for the sixth point for Redlands winning 6-2, 4-6, 10-6. 

The last match on was Khayat who had a battle at No. 6 falling in straights 7-5, 7-6 (2).         

Redlands has the night off before returning to the courts tomorrow, Saturday, March 25 when they take on Grinnell College beginning at 10:00am.