SportsTennis

Men’s tennis defeated by Cal Lutheran, 9-0

In a doubles match against Cal Lutheran, Evan Mobley attempted to return a serve. Mobley and partner Richie Delgado lost their Feb. 16 match, 8-0. Last weekend, La Verne lost the matches to Cal Lutheran and Redlands, bringing their overall record to 0-5. / photo by Rhiannon Mim
In a doubles match against Cal Lutheran, Evan Mobley attempted to return a serve. Mobley and partner Richie Delgado lost their Feb. 16 match, 8-0. Last weekend, La Verne lost the matches to Cal Lutheran and Redlands, bringing their overall record to 0-5. / photo by Rhiannon Mim

Madison Steff
Staff Writer

The La Verne men’s tennis team competed against Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent Cal Lutheran in its fourth consecutive home match Feb. 16.

The Leopards’ doubles teams played hard and put up a good fight, but in the end were defeated by the Kingsmen, 9-0.

The sophomore doubles team of Adrian Laygo and Chris Weedon played an exceptionally remarkable match, lasting more than an hour, only to lose, 8-3.

The tandem served and returned very well making for an all around good match with an unfortunate ending.

Another outstanding doubles team performance was played by co-captain Kyle Fournier and Joseph Manfre, but they still lost, 8-2.

“We are both just inexperienced. It will come,” said Fournier, a senior criminology major.

The Leopards were outmatched in all six single matches as well as another long lasting performance by Laygo.

“I kind of play the same way as him so it was interesting,” Laygo said about Cal Lu.

Despite a well-played match, the courts seemed a little empty without newcomer Sebastian Duroux, who suffered an ankle injury Wednesday at practice.

“It’s frustrating,” Duroux said as he watched the matches from the stands.

Duroux, a senior transfer student from France, is expected to make a full recovery and return to practice sometime next week.

Despite their 0-4 record and the temporary loss of a teammate, the Leopards are in good spirits and working toward improvement.

“We just need to gel more as a team,” said Manfre, a junior movement sports science major.

With only three returning players and several walk-ons, the team’s goal is to measure success not by wins but by heart, head coach Steve Bergovoy explained.

Their motto for this season is the Japanese principle “kaizen,” which when translated into English means “continuous improvement.”

“I am lucky and privileged to have everyone of them on the team,” Bergovoy said.

On Saturday, the Leopards competed in a non-conference game against Redlands where they were again defeated, 9-0.

The Leopards were prepared for the difficult match and knew that it was not going to be fun as many of them had stated on Friday.

“We just don’t have the skill and experience as other teams in our conference,” Bergovoy said.

This Saturday at 2 p.m., the Leopards will return home for another SCIAC match against La Sierra and a chance to capture their first victory.

Madison Steff can be reached at msteff@ulv.edu.

Madison Steff, Editorial Director
Madison Steff
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Rhiannon Mim, Photography Editor
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