WHITTIER, Calif. (Feb. 20, 2010) - Oxy was coming off its second
straight conference loss, falling 8-1 to Pomona Pitzer on Friday
afternoon. Saturday morning they traveled to regionally
ranked Whittier College in search of their first conference
win, racing out a 3-0 lead after the doubles portion of
the dual match. The Poets did not go away, winning three
straight singles matches to cut into the lead, but the Tigers held
on for the 6-3 win.
Pomona Pitzer stayed a perfect 3-0 on the season after knocking
off the Tigers 8-1 on Friday. Stephen
Perkins notched the sole win for Oxy, with a 6-3, 6-3
victory at the number five singles position. But
Stefan Pastor pushed his match to the limit,
falling 6-1 in the opening set before battling back 7-6 in the
second, and falling by the slimmest of margins (11-9) in the
tiebreaker. Ben Herrington-Gilmore displayed
the same amount of grit, after falling 6-3 to start his number
three singles match, Gilmore ran to a 6-0 second set win before
falling in three.
They would need that determination, less then 24 hours later, as
they found themselves up 4-3 with two matches to
go. Facing the #13 ranked team in the West Region, Oxy
found themselves in position for the upset, needing just one more
win. The fighting spirit they displayed yesterday was
back in form today as the Black and Orange rolled to back to back
victories by Perkins and Spencer
Choy that completed the upset of #13 Poets.
Oxy (2-2, 1-2) will now host La Sierra University in a
nonconference dual match on Tuesday, February 23rd, with
first serve scheduled for 6pm.
