It was a rough weekend for the Puget Sound men’s tennis team as they faced against cross town rivals Pacific Lutheran on Friday, April 5 and then against Willamette on Saturday, April 6. The Loggers played a tough game against both teams, but they unfortunately earned a loss each game.
The game against PLU was the first game for the team since spring break, and the Loggers lost 7-2. During the doubles matches, the only Loggers to earn a win were senior Mike Cutter (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and sophomore Graham Baker (Denver, Colo.).
They defeated PLU 8-5 in their match, but PLU took control soon after by taking the other doubles matches.
When the singles matches began, Cutter once again helped earn points for the Loggers by winning his singles match. However, this would be the only other match the Loggers would win as PLU easily carried away with the 7-2 win.
In their second game of the weekend against Willamette the Loggers initially came out strong to take the conference win. Similar to the PLU game, however, they could not hold on to their lead and Willamette took the game 6-3.
Once the doubles matches started, Baker and Cutter beat their opponents 9-8, who are ranked 11th in the West.
This game gave the Loggers the 2-1 lead that they needed, as senior Michael Tieu (Salem, Ore.) and junior John Stevens (Portland, Ore.) took the next win for the Loggers, as they defeated Willamette 8-4.
When the singles matches began, Baker came out and easily won his singles match, keeping the Loggers in the lead. After this match, Willamette had a comeback and took the next five points away from the Loggers for the 6-3 win.
Even in their singles matches the Loggers fought hard to keep their lead, but it still was not enough.
The two losses over the weekend dropped the team to 2-12 overall, with just one win all season coming in the Northwest Conference.
The Loggers will finish up their 2013 season with their final two home matches in the Tennis Pavilion next weekend, on Saturday, April 13 against Whitworth and Sunday, April 14 against Whitman.
Both of these games will be conference games for the Loggers and important wins.
