NORTHWEST REGIONAL: Bruins Close Out Solid Weekend of Tennis in Regional Tourney

BEAVERTON, Ore. - After putting six men’s tennis players in the “Sweet 16” of the singles on the first day of the 2012 USTA / ITA Small College Northwest Regional Tournament Saturday here at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center, only freshman Chris Lilley w as able to advance another round for the George Fox University Bruins on Sunday.

Lilley notched an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win over the No. 3 seed in the tournament, Troy Zuroske of Pacific University, before being stopped in a 6-1, 7-5 loss to Giancarlo Battaglia of Pacific in the semifinals.  Bruins who bowed out in the quarterfinals Sunday were Justin McClain, 7-5, 6-0 to Colton Malesovas of Whitman; Drew Milton in a 6-3, 6-3 setback to Battaglia; Andy Tweet with a 6-1, 6-0 loss to James Rivers of Whitman; Preston Mann, who fell 6-0, 6-1 to Andy Riggs of Whitman; and Shawn Aldrich in a 6-2, 6-1 setback to Steven Roston of Whitman. 

In the singles consolation, the Bruins’ Nolan Staples dropped an 8-5 decision to Graham Baker of the University of Puget Sound; Peter Brown won 8-4 over Daniel Duell of UPS before falling to Jake Yannello of PLU; and Mitchell Miyashiro fell 8-3 to Daniel Ham of Lewis & Clark.

George Fox’s two doubles teams which had reached the quarterfinals were unable to advance.  McClain and Lilley fell 8-4 to Noah Lee and Roston of Whitman in the semifinals, while Aldrich and Mann were edged 8-6 by Riggs and Matt Tesmond of Whitman.   

In the doubles consolation, Tweet and Chace Stalcup defeated Ben Brewer and Joel Trousdale of Pacific 8-4, then fell 8-7 to Neal Berg and Hayden McCartney of Pacific Lutheran University. 

Despite the team’s difficulties on Sunday, George Fox head coach Neal Ninteman was extremely pleased with the Bruins’ overall efforts over the weekend, observing that “our guys battled well in the round of 16, but only Chris advanced with an impressive win over Zuroske, the No.3 seed.  Justin, Shawn, and Drew all had competitive matches that could have gone either way, but they came up short.  We also fell to the mighty Whitman team in doubles tonight in a couple of close matches.

“Overall, we had a solid performance in the tournament.  To advance six players to the final 16 is a great accomplishment.  Once you get to day two, you’re down to the 16 best small college tennis players in the region, and the level of play is very high. Today we ran into some terrific players from Whitman who played very well and came out on top.” 

The following links, courtesy of the Pacific sports information department, may be used to see the complete bracket and results of the action thus far in the ITA Small College Northwest Regional Tournament: 

Men's Singles Main Bracket: 

http://www.goboxers.com/documents/2012/9/20/2012_NW_ITA_Mens_Singles.pdf?id=224

Men's Singles Consolation Bracket: 

http://www.goboxers.com/documents/2012/9/22/2012_NW_ITA_Singles_Consolation.pdf?id=227

Men's Doubles Bracket: 

http://www.goboxers.com/documents/2012/9/20/2012_NW_ITA_Mens_Doubles.pdf?id=225