by Enedina Perez
Staff Writer
Clawing to stay on top of the match, the University of La Verne men’s tennis team was unsuccessful at keeping up with the Chapman University Panthers, losing 9-0 on Wednesday.
During the singles play, sophomore Sergio Velazquez’s strong swings allowed him to win the first set, 6-4, of his No. 4 match. He lost the next two sets, 6-2 and 6-2, due to broken strings on his racquet.
“I had to use a different type of racquet with a different tension, so I lost,” he said.
Playing an intense set, freshman, No. 2, David Dang also managed to win the first set, 6-4, but he lost the second and third sets, 6-2 and 6-1.
Among the other players, junior Kris Holland played a close first set as well, but lost 7-5 and 6-1.
According to coach Tim Fitzgerald, his expectations for the team were pretty much met, but he still had hopes of winning a few matches.
“We hung tough throughout the single matches, except we came up a little short,” he said.
He compared the other team as being “strong all the way through.”
“We’re a little weaker down low, so that kind of gives them the advantage right off the bat,” said Fitzgerald.
For the doubles, Dang and Holland paired up, but lost their match, 8-4.
The other partners, which included senior Xavier Unamun and sophomore Andrew Nguyen; and senior Richard Coles and Velazquez, were also defeated, 8-1 and 8-2, respectively.
“The team overall, did not do so well,” said Velazquez. “We expected to do better.”
“I think we all played tough, but they’re just a little bit better, all the way around. They just have better depths in all their players,” Holland said.
The Leopards, who have a 2-9 record on the season, will face the College of Notre Dame of Northern California tomorrow at 10 a.m.
Enedina Perez
