THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The No. 9 nationally ranked Cal Lutheran men's tennis team nearly handed No. 1 Amherst its first loss of the season on Wednesday at the Poulson Tennis Center. The Jeffs won three of the final four matches to eke out a 5-4 decision over the Kingsmen.
Results: AMH 5, CLU 4 - F
All three doubles matches ended less than 45 minutes of getting action underway with Cal Lutheran earning the first point. Nicholas Ballou and Ray Worley won the first seven games en route to an 8-1 victory over Luis Rattenhuber and Andrew Jung at first doubles.
Heading into today's match Cal Lutheran's fate directly correlated with the outcome of the No. 1 doubles result. The Kingsmen were a perfect 9-0 when Ballou and Worley won their doubles contest, however the Jeffs would battle back and eventually break that streak.
Minutes after the Jeffs No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams captured their respective matches giving Amherst (10-0) a 2-1 cushion heading into singles play. On both previous occasions the Kingsmen trailed by a single point through doubles they pulled off comeback wins against No. 12 Pomona-Pitzer and No. 15 Redlands.
Ballou drew Cal Lutheran even following a straight sets win. Worley earned a convincing 6-2, 6-4 win over nationally ranked No. 5 player Joey Fritz to take back a 3-2 lead. Amherst's Wes Waterman then equalized the match with a victory at fifth singles.
Players and spectators roamed the courts as the three remaining matches were still in question. Cal Lutheran won the first set in two of those contests while Justin Wilson was battling back in hopes of taking the second set.
Wilson trailed opponent and No. 31 ranked player Mark Kahan 3-6, 5-4, but was up a break and serving for the second set. Wilson and Kahan broke the other's serve on three straight games forcing a second set tiebreak.
Wilson led the tiebreak 5-2 before an overrule call turned a three point cushion into one. Kahan would go on to win the match 6-3, 7-6 (5) putting the Jeffs one point away from avoiding their first loss of the season. Amherst's Eli Mlaver lost a first set tiebreak at No. 6 singles, but rallied back to take the final two sets for a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-1 victory to secure the team result.
In spite of that CLU's Connor Treacy rose to the occasion in the second set. Despite dropping an early break, he went on to take the final four games to earn a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles over Andrew Jung to close out the match.
No. 9 Cal Lutheran (9-3) will host No. 3 Williams (4-0) on Wednesday, March 28, at 1 p.m.
