Azusa, CA (2/12/10) – In the opening match of its four-game road trip, the HPU men’s tennis team fell to NAIA #1 Fresno Pacific University, 6-3. The Sea Warriors fall to 2-1 while the Sunbirds win their season opener.
“We did not play well in doubles and fell behind 3-0,” said Head Coach Stefan Pampulov. “ We had a good effort in singles but fell short of securing two more points.”
The fifth-ranked Sea Warriors could not climb out of a 3-0 hole after doubles play. Dominic Mclusky and Nikola Petrov fell to FPU’s Xavien Smith and Alex Gonzales, 8-6, in No.1 doubles. In two doubles, Anton Samuilau and Daniel Luedi lost to the Sunbird pair of Denny Fafek and Jose Hilla, and Aleksandar Markov and Sebastian Bader were defeated by Maxime Adam and Martin Vaisse, 8-4, at the three.
HPU came back in singles play, highlighted by Petrov’s three-set win at the one. He defeated Smith 7-6, 1-6, 6-4. 41st-ranked Daniel Luedi topped Fafek at three singles, and Samuilau topped 49th-ranked Hilla.
Fresno Pacific took the two, three, and five singles matches to earn the win.
HPU retakes the court tomorrow, February 13, versus Claremont Mudd-Scrips. Start time is set for 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
