Men's Tennis Edges Out La Sierra

The Whittier College men's tennis team ended a five-game losing streak by defeating La Sierra University 5-4 in Riverside, Calif., on March 2. The match was a resumption of one that was originally scheduled Feb. 22; postponed due to rain. The Poets took the court at 6:30 and continued into the late hours under the lights finishing close to 11:00pm.

Denis Minaev ‘11 continued to have the hot hand for the Poets and clinched the victory at #6 singles 7-6 (5), 6-3. He and Ryan Johnson ‘11 also won a critical match at #3 doubles 8-6.  Minaev improves to 5-1 on the year in singles.

Justin DeLong ‘10 also continued his winning ways, putting in a dominant performance at #2 singles winning 6-1, 6-0.

Equally as impressive was #4 singles Ted Wyatt ‘11, using his power game to blow his opponent off the court 6-0, 6-2. Wyatt and Lance Franey ‘09 also won at #2 doubles 8-1.

"I would like to say we have turned the corner with this win, but I truly believe we should beat teams like this comfortably 6-3 and maybe even 7-2, instead, quite frankly, we were a little lucky to win this one," expressed a concerned coach, David Bojalad.  "The jury is still out as to whether we have underachieved to this point or if we're not as good as I thought we were. I would like to believe in the former. We certainly are going to have to hit another gear or two if we want to have success in our upcoming four-game home stand against some solid clubs."

The Poets' next match is March 6 vs. Wabash College at 3:00pm on Ettinger Tennis Courts.