By: Ryan Lackey
CLAREMONT, Cal. --- The Bruins played in a rare doubleheader on Thursday at the Bisantz Tennis Center in Claremont, California. In the early match, the Bruins faced a very tough task, facing Carnegie Mellon, currently ranked #7 nationally, and lost 9-0. Having to play against Wabash College the same day after expending that sort of effort is hardly a breeze, especially when the Bruins's typically rock-solid #1 doubles team of Spencer Watanabe and Chris Lilley suffered what head coach Neal Ninteman called a "rare loss" which put the Bruins down, 1-0. But the Bruins battled back for a resounding 6-3 victory after what surely was an exhausting day.
Recap:
vs. Carnegie Mellon
Matches against national powerhouses are always daunting, but, although the Bruins lost in a clean-sweep to #7 Carnegie Mellon, 9-0, there were positive signs throughout. In the doubles competition, Spencer Watanabe and Chris Lilley came the closest for the Bruins, losing the #1 match to Daniel Levine and Vayum Arora, 8-4. Nicholas Grafton and Vincent Viloria were defeated in the #2 doubles match, 8-2, by Jeffrey Chen and Kenny Zheng. The Bruins's Miychell Miyahiro and Tristen Lerma fell 8-1 in the #3 match.
In singles, both Viloria and Miyahiro took their matches into third sets. In the #4 match, Viloria lost the first set, 6-2, before coming back to take the second, 7-6 (7-4). But Viloria couldn't quite win the third set, losing 1-0 (10-8). Miyahiro, in the #6 match, dropped the first at 6-1 before winning the next, 6-2. He also lost in the third, 1-0 (10-5).
Watanabe fell in the #1 match to Levine, 6-1, 6-2. Lilley fared slightly better in the #2, losing to Arora 6-4, 6-3. Grafton fell short in the #3 to Kunal Wadwani, 6-0, 6-0. The Bruins's Nick Ekern dropped the #5 match to Chaz Downing by the same score.
Ninteman was generally positive about the Bruins's performance, despite the score.
"We competed well with the national powerhouse," he said.
vs. Wabash College
Coming off of the Carnegie Mellon match, the Bruins had little time to rest before facing Wabash College, itself no pushover program. But the Bruins seemed to stand a good chance, especially with the strength of their doubles play. But Lilley and Watanabe suffered an unheard-of second loss on the day, falling 8-2 in the #1 match to Michael Makio and William Reifeis. Thankfully for the Bruins, the #2 doubles team, Viloria and Grafton, held off Mazin Hakim and Kirill Ivashchenko masterfully after staging a ferocious comeback for an 8-6 win. Then, in the #3 match, Lerma and Miyashiro did as much as they possibly could do, doggedly staying with George Go III and Jordan Greenwell through into a tiebreaker before losing out, 9-7.
Thus, the Bruins began singles play with ground to make up.
"We were in deep trouble, backs firmly against the wall," said Ninteman of the Bruin's situation.
But, spurred on by the doubles losses, Grafton, Watanabe, and Lilley all played sharp, domineering tennis in their singles matches. Grafton took the #3 match breezily over Greenwell, 6-0, 6-2. Watanabe steamrolled through the first set of the #1 match with Makio before cooling in the second, winning 6-0, 6-4. And Lilley put in a smooth and controlled performance against Reifeis, taking the #2 match 6-4, 6-2.
The #5 match finished next. With a chance to clinch a remarkable comeback victor for the Bruins, Miyashiro labored through his first set, winning 6-3, before outworking opponent Nicholas Pollock to take the second set by the same score, and the Bruins had the win.
Lerma made Hakim work for the win in the #6 match, losing out 6-4. 7-6 (7-4). And Viloria ran off his own comeback, taking the #4 match over Ivashchenko 1-6, 7-5, 10-7.
What It Means:
With the day's split, the Bruins are at 4-5 on the season, 2-2 in conference competition.
What Comes Next:
On Saturday, the Bruins take on Wesleyan, another historically successful program, at Riverside City College.
