by Gianina Lomedico
Staff Writer
The University of La Verne men’s tennis team made Whittier pay for the team’s earlier losses against two universities from Wisconsin as ULV beat Whittier 6-1 on March 23.
ULV overpowered Whittier and will use this momentum for this week’s important closing of Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play.
The singles matches started off with the No. 1 position of freshman Josh Horwitz winning 6-2, 6-4; No. 2 freshman Chad Rodriguez, also won, 6-1, 6-2; sophomore Son Nguyen lost 0-6, 4-6 while senior Kiran Asola won his singles match 6-1, 6-1.
Freshman Jason Cortez also captured his singles match 7-6, 6-4. Junior Jarrod Hesler won 6-0, 6-1. An exhibition match was played by sophomore Hugo Valencia 4-8, 7-9.
Doubles play consisted of No. 1 position Horwitz and Rodriguez winning 8-4 and Asola and Cortez won in the No. 2 position 8-4. The No. 3 team Hesler and Nguyen also won 8-2.
“Everybody did very well. It was a great team effort,” said ULV head coach Steve Bergovoy. “They knew it was time to go to war. All the glory goes to them and they definitely deserve it.”
The match was a highlight for Nguyen as he won his first victory as a Leopard. His doubles win allowed him to receive the tennis team’s tradition of keeping the game ball.
“He is a very humble guy, not very boastful and a nice young man. He enjoyed the win. By winning the third match, it took off a lot of pressure from the first two doubles,” said Bergovoy about Nguyen.
Bergovoy explained how the other players are progressing, as they are slowly becoming eager for the regular season to come to a close.
“Horwitz is starting to get back into his rhythm offensively and defensively,” said Bergovoy. “Rodriguez is maturing as a player. Asola’s confidence is coming back and is getting into his best form. Hesler is the warrior Leopard of the group and has been battling back aggressively.”
Bergovoy comments on the other players. “Cortez has more talent than anybody on the team. He’s winning but making his opponents look good in the process and has been too generous with his opponents. Nguyen started out very nervous but he has relaxed and found his rhythm. He has a natural ability and if he hangs on with playing more matches he will get better and better.”
The ULV tennis team’s record is now 4-10 overall and 3-3 in conference. Three of the 10 losses came from nationally ranked All-American teams. Assistant coach Karly Gardiner said that just playing against tougher teams has helped ULV play well against SCIAC. “They have steadily improved over the season and have beaten the teams they should have beaten in conference,” said Gardiner.
Bergovoy said that the team “can see the light at the end of the tunnel” as ULV will finish off the season with Caltech on April 6 and Occidental, on April 7. Occidental will be the biggest match of the season as ULV is battling for fourth place in SCIAC. “The true champion will come out on that match,” said Bergovoy.
