Men's Tennis | 3/14/2015 7:05:00 PM
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The 15th-ranked Missionaries of Whitman College and the eighth-ranked Lords from Kenyon College battled to the final points in the seventh-place match Saturday at the prestigious Stag-Hen Invitational. In the end Kenyon rallied to steal one from Whitman with a come-from-behind 5-4 non-conference victory on the courts of the Biszantz Family Tennis Center at host Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
The Missionaries (10-4) leaped in front of the Lords (8-5) with a pair of doubles wins.
Colton Malesovas and
James Rivers, for the second time over the weekend, captured a point at No. 1 doubles, this time taking down Kenyon's Davis Thrailkill and Tim Rosensteel by a score of 8-4.
Jake Hoeger and
Zach Hewlin added a point for the Missionaries with an 8-6 win over Colin Haas and Alex Rieger at 2-doubles. Kenyon squeaked out a win at No. 3 to head into singles trailing Whitman, 2-1.
Malesovas lost a tight battle (7-6, 6-3) at 1-singles to Sam Geier before Hewlin added a Whitman win at No. 2 with a straight-set (6-2, 6-4) victory over Robert Turlington.
Rosensteel recovered from his doubles loss to take a straight-set win at 3-singles from Whitman's
Chase Friedman that squared the match at 3-3 but
Petar Jivkov pushed the Missionaries back in front with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Haas at No. 4.
Unfortunately for Whitman the Lords stole wins at Nos. 5 and 6 to complete their rally from the doubles scoring deficit.
The non-conference slate continues with Whitman's next matches, both to be played in California. Tuesday brings a visit to No. 39 Whittier College followed by a neutral-site battle Wednesday against 10th-ranked Bowdoin (Maine) College back on the Biszantz courts in Claremont.
