Pasadena, CA - The sun was shining in Pasadena as the Ephs took on Cal Tech in a one-sided affair. At one doubles, the first time pairing of
Nicholas Chen and
Leon Liu came out firing, and in the blink of an eye they found themselves up 5-0. With strong serving from both and confidence oozing, they rode the wave to an 8-0 victory.
At number three doubles,
Simon Volkema and
Kush Anand continued their stellar start to the season, with an 8-1 win. All eyes were on court two as the two teams traded games all the way to 7-7. At 5-5 in the tiebreaker,
Shawn Berdia fired a serve down the T, and
Andrew Chong flew across the court for a beautiful smash winner. One point away, they played a chaotic point before Berdia put a beautiful volley just out of reach of his opponent, winning 8-7 and putting the Ephs up 3-0 after doubles.
In singles play, the Ephs found themselves winning on 5 of the 6 courts, most of the first sets were won in convincing fashion. Chong looked particularly potent as he sprinted to a 6-0 first set "bagel". The Ephs would finish winning 5 of 6 singles in straight sets, putting the final match score at 8-1.
Matt Kandel commented on the win, "The boys came out today and played a level of tennis that was inspiring to watch. From the top down, it was awesome to see us look like a truly complete team." The men's tennis team returns to action Friday against Pomona-Pitzer.
Doubles
Chen/Liu (WIL) def. He/Srinivasan (TECH) 8-0
Chong/Berdia (WIL) def. Mccandless/Ram (TECH) 8-7(5)
Volkema/Anand (WIL) def. Sundar/Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne (TECH) 8-1
Singles
Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne (TECH) def. Berdia (WIL) 6-4, 6-1
Chen (WIL) def. Dewey (TECH) 6-1, 6-0
Volkema (WIL) def. Ram (TECH) 7-5, 6-3
Anand (CHA) def. Sundar (TECH) 6-1, 6-1
Liu (CHA) def. Yang (TECH) 6-1, 6-2
Chong (WIL) def. Srinivasan (TECH) 6-0, 6-2