Men's Tennis | 3/18/2015 10:11:00 PM
CLAREMONT, Calif. – Wednesday's pairing between a pair of nationally-ranked men's tennis teams was a tale of two halves but unfortunately for No. 15 Whitman College the 10th-ranked Polar Bears from Bowdoin (Maine) College stole the last points to come out on top, 5-4, in a non-conference match-up at the Biszantz Family Tennis Center on the campus of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
Whitman (11-5) swept doubles to take a 3-0 lead over Bowdoin (5-1) into singles play. The Missionaries captured only the 1-singles point as the Polar Bears rallied for their victory.
Colton Malesovas picked up half of Whitman's points, garnering the singles point with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Bowdoin's Luke Trinka after Malesovas and
James Rivers had downed Trinka and Luke Tercek at No. 1 doubles by a score of 8-6.
Both of Whitman's other doubles victories were hard fought. At No. 2 the tandem of
Jake Hoeger and
Zach Hewlin outlasted the Polar Bears' Kyle Wolfe and Kyle Wolstencroft, 9-7, and at 3-doubles Whitman's pairing of
Robert Carter and
Petar Jivkov earned their team point by defeating Chase Savage and Gil Roddy.
Bowdoin retaliated on the singles courts, though. It swept four matches in straight sets and added a squeaker at 3-singles where Wolfe battled Whitman's
Chase Friedman into the third set.
Friedman rallied from a first-set loss to take the second, 6-2, but Wolfe bounced back for the set victory and match win by taking the third, 6-3.
The match concludes Whitman's trek into California over its spring break. The Missionaries leap back into action with a doubleheader on Friday, April 3 taking on Lewis & Clark College at noon and Linfield College at approximately 4 p.m. in a pair of Northwest Conference matches.
