Feb. 21, 2009

Lutes Sweep Three Northwest Conference Tennis Matches

PARKLAND – Using a split squad and shuffling several players between Parkland and the University of Puget Sound campus in Tacoma, Pacific Lutheran won three Northwest Conference men’s tennis matches on Saturday.

Playing rare home matches on their outdoor courts, the Lutes swept a conference “doubleheader” from the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers by identical 7-2 scores. The first of the two matches started at 10 a.m. and the second one got underway at 2 p.m. In a match that started at noon at the UPS Tennis Pavilion, PLU defeated the Puget Sound Loggers, 8-1.

Match No. 1 – PLU 7, Lewis & Clark 2

Justin Peterson

The Pioneers picked up one of their two points at No. 1 doubles where Vincent Groot and Ray Peter battled PLU’s Justin Peterson and Zack ZhYat to a 9-8 victory. The Lutes picked up the other two doubles points as Scott Sheldon and James Crosetto beat Luke Wheeler and Matthias Kullowatz, 8-1 at No. 2, and Alex Eli and Benjamin Fox topped Andrew Moller and William Parker, 8-5 at No. 3.

In singles play, three of the matches went to the Lutes in straight sets. Michael Manser defeated Wheeler, 6-2, 6-1, Sheldon topped Peter 6-0, 6-1 and Eli beat Kullowatz 7-5, 6-2. The Pioneers got their lone singles victory from Parker, who topped Michael Parretta 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4) at No. 5 singles. Joel Trudel split sets with Groot before winning the tiebreaker and with it the No. 1 singles match, 6-2, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5), and James Odan went to a third set before winning 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 over Moller.

Match No. 2 – PLU 8, Puget Sound 1

Over at the UPS indoor court, the Lutes started out by winning two of the doubles matches, Kevin Floyd and Chris Dew winning at No. 1, Peterson and AhYat triumphing at No. 2. The Loggers got their only team point at No. 3 where Alex Harrison and Carl Larson nipped Crosetto and Brent Smoots, 8-6.

The Lutes won four of the six singles matches in straight sets with those wins going to AhYat at No. 2, Crosetto at No. 4, Dew at No. 5 and Smoots at No. 6. Floyd won his match at No. 1 singles, 6-0, 4-6, 6-2, and Peterson beat Nick Kelley 6-1, 6-7, 1-0 (10-7) at No. 3 singles.

Match No. 3 – PLU 7, Lewis & Clark 2

The Pioneers ran out the same doubles and singles lineups against the Lutes, who moved several players into different positions. The Lutes took all three doubles matches with Trudel and Manser at No. 1, Sheldon and John deMars at No. 2 and Eli and Parretta at No. 3.

In singles play, Lewis & Clark had wins at No. 1 and No. 6 and the Lutes took victories in everything in between. The PLU singles winners were Trudel at No. 2, Dew at No. 3, Sheldon at No. 4 and Odan at No. 5.

The Lutes, now 5-3 overall and 5-2 in conference matches, return to action next Saturday when they host the Whitworth Pirates.