Westmont tennis teams take two from Jessup

By JACOB NORLING WESTMONT SPORTS WRITER

Both Westmont Men’s and Westmont Women’s Tennis were in complete control today, when the two teams hosted and defeated the visiting Jessup Warriors. A day after both squads fell to Menlo in another conference contest, both teams put one back in the win column in GSAC play.

The men started things off in the morning with a 6-1 win over Jessup (5-7, 1-4 GSAC), with Westmont (6-6, 4-2) starting the day by claiming the doubles point. On one, Logan Thompson and Ethan came out victorious 6-2, and on three, Cody Ray Emery and Santiago Tintore Ramon won it 6-1.

In singles the only match Jessup could steal was on court one, where it took a tiebreaker in a third set for Roger Wen to beat Logan Thompson. Away from one, the host-Warriors took matches on two-through-six, with wins coming for Emery, Ha, Owen Vander Ark, Preston Hastings, and Benny Saito in that order.

“Our guys recovered really well from yesterday, and from playing two matches in a row,” said Westmont head coach Mark Basham. “I was really happy again with doubles. We had a bit of a slow start on one, but we got the group going and took a key doubles point.

“There were some ups and downs, but singles was solid. I was really happy with Cody Ray who pulled through on two, and I would give Ethan the title of player of the day, as he dominated on three. We pulled it out with Owen, who came back on number four and won a super tiebreaker, and Benny won the clinching match pretty decisively.

“It was a good win against a solid Jessup team, and I’m really happy with our performance.”

On the women’s side, the team was even more dominant as Westmont (2-10, 2-2) surrendered only one set all match long. The one set that Jessup (1-7, 1-4) took ended up being a moot point, as it came during doubles on court one. Luckily for Westmont, Liska Knight and Arden Samuels won it on two, and Sabina Salva, and Logan Jackson took care of business on three.

After taking the doubles point, Westmont swept all six singles matches in straight sets to claim the match by a score of 7-0. Wins for Westmont came from Francesca Aguirre, Sophia Ostovany, Salva, Justie Spitzer, Kaley Houshmand, and Jackson.

“I’m really happy with how we performed,” said Westmont head coach Cade Pierson. “We really showed up and took care of business today. I think a lot of people stepped up to the plate, and a lot of our starters showed up and played clean tennis today.

“Our ability to handle our emotions was a lot better today than yesterday. Every tennis match has its highs and lows of momentum, but I think everyone did a great job of both staying emotionally level, and showing the positive emotions when they felt them.

“There’s been a lot of growth match-to-match a lot of growth over the season as you look at the big picture.”

Both the men and the women return next Friday in southern California, when they travel to take on NCAA Div. II Azusa Pacific.

Jacob Norling is the sports information assistant at Westmont College. email: sports@newspress.com

UCSB men’s volleyball falls to Irvine

By ERIC BOOSE UCSB SPORTS

The UCSB men’s volleyball team (5-13, 1-4 Big West) fell to No. 6 UC Irvine (13-6, 3-0 Big West) for the second time this week, 3-0 on the road Friday night. The final scores were 23-25, 22-25, 20-25.

HOW IT HAPPENED

With heavy hitters Nick Amoruso and Ryan Wilcox in the front, UCSB kept the game tied in the first frame up until the last moment, but Irvine’s hitting eventually allowed them turn the tide to take the set.

The second frame also saw a tight back-and-forth between the Anteaters and the Gauchos, but a service error, then two kills from the home team left the Gauchos unable to keep up, and Irvine would take the set 22-25.

Although Irvine came out in the third set with a four-point lead, UCSB chipped away at it. However, the Gauchos were unable to regain any sort of momentum as the Anteaters’ hitting proved to be too much, averaging .400, and the frame ended with the home team completing the sweep.

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