SAN DIEGO, CA — The Ephs opened up their spring break trip to California with a narrow defeat at the hands of the Sea Lions of Point Loma Nazarene University, 5-4, with the final point decided in a third set between Eph junior Jose Raventos and Sea Lion junior Andre Staab.
Raventos squeaked out the first set by managing to outlast Staab in one of several tiebreakers that the two teams would contest over the course of the day. Staab, however, would recover well to then take the next two sets each by the score of 6-2, in spite of Raventos never giving up.
The match got underway with doubles first, as the Ephs only just missed out on grabbing all three points.
First off the court at one-doubles was the Eph duo of freshman Jordan Sadowsky and junior Alexander Schidlovsky, who dismissed Staab and his partner, fellow Sea Lion junior Daniel Milliken, by the margin of 8-3.
Not too far behind them came the Eph pairing of junior Brian Astrachan and sophomore Conrad Harron who took care of business on court three with a comfortable 8-5 win over the Sea Lion freshman Grant Alston and junior James Tenbroek.
The final doubles match was too close to separate, as both sides pushed each other first into an 8-all tiebreaker, then all the way to 10-all in the tiebreaker. It was here, however, that the Sea Lion combination of junior Martin Blaho and freshman CJ Erion was able to outlast Raventos and his partner, Eph sophomore Rohan Shastri, earning the Sea Lions their first point of the day with a 12-10 victory in the tiebreaker.
The Ephs' 2-1 lead would not hold up during singles play, however, as the Sea Lions managed to take four of the six courts to lift them to the 5-4 win.
The Sea Lions would build on the momentum they had gained at the end of the doubles portion to grab the first singles point at the number two position, as Blaho downed Schidlovsky in straight sets, 6-1 and 6-1, to level the match at 2 points apiece.
The next match to finish was the contest at four-singles, between Shastri and Milliken, that saw Shastri cruise comfortably to a 6-4, 6-3 win that momentarily restored the Ephs' lead.
That lead would not last long, however, as both matches on courts five and six fell in favor of the Sea Lions, as Erion and freshman Jack Alston finished off Sadowsky and Eph junior Howard Weiss 6-3, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-4 respectively, giving the Seas Lions their first lead of the day.
The Ephs would draw the match level once again mere minutes later as a result of a strong performance from Harron at three-singles. After a competitive first set that he managed to pull out 7-4 in a tiebreaker, Harron would continue on to secure a relatively smooth second set, 6-1.
With the match all square at 4-4, it came down to one-singles, where Staab got the better of Raventos, sealing the match for the Sea Lions in three sets.
After the match, Eph head coach Dan Greenberg commented on the team's tough opening to the spring break trip: "It was a great opening match for us despite coming out on the losing end. Our doubles was energetic, and our singles guys all fought well. More importantly we had opportunities that we will learn from in the coming week."
The Ephs' spring break trip continues tomorrow as they travel up the coast several miles to Azusa, California to face off against Azusa Pacific University. That match is scheduled to start at 4:30 PM EDT.
Point Loma 5, Williams 4
- Staab, Andre (POINT LOMA) def. Ravenots, Jose (WILLIAMS) 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-2
- Blaho, Martin (POINT LOMA) def. Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) 6-1, 6-1
- Harron, Conrad (WILLIAMS) def. Tenbroeck, James (POINT LOMA) 7-6(4), 6-1
- Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Milliken, Daniel (POINT LOMA) 6-4, 6-3
- Erion, CJ (POINT LOMA) def. Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) 6-3, 6-2
- Alston, Jack (POINT LOMA) def. Weiss, Howard (WILLIAMS) 6-3, 6-4
- Sadowsky, Jordan/Schidlovsky, Alexander (WILLIAMS) def. Staab, Andre/Milliken, Daniel (POINT LOMA) 8-3
- Blaho, Martin/Erion, CJ (POINT LOMA) def. Raventos, Jose/Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) 9-8 (10)
- Astrachan, Brian/Harron, Conrad (WILLIAMS) def. Alston, Grant/Tenbroeck, James (POINT LOMA) 8-5
Match Notes:
Williams 1-1, nationally ranked #14, regionally ranked #3
Point Loma 8-9, nationally ranked #42, regionally ranked #5
