After this weekend’s matchups the men’s tennis team has improved their season record to 4-4, the best eight-match start the men have had in a decade.

Wins all around

Both the men’s and women’s tennis teams won their fourth Golden State Athletic Conference matchups against Hope International University. The men’s team also narrowly beat the Caltech Beavers.

“We've played Caltech before and beaten them twice,” said senior Lucas Lee. “But we knew they were going to be a lot stronger this year. They got a lot more depth to their team so we had to execute at every spot in order to pull out the win.”

Strong singles

Sophomore Philip Westwood kicked off the singles competition with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over his Beaver’s opponent. Lee and junior Luke Mountain followed up Westwood with their own victories and three matches in, the Eagles led the Beavers 3-0.

After sophomores Joe Turnquist and Michael Vartuli lost both of their matches, sophomore David Garcia finished off the singles competition beating his opponent 6-4, 6-2.

“Our doubles hasn't been strong this year so far,” Lee said. “But our singles has always been strong which is worth double the points with six matches rather than three. We can always rely on our singles to get us the win when we need it.”

The Eagles went into the doubles competition leading the Beavers 4-2. As Lee and Mountain defeated their opponent in the first match 8-5, they secured the victory and the Eagles went on to win 5-4.

Dethroned Royals

Coming into their GSAC matchup against Hope International University, both the men’s and women’s teams held a 1-2 conference record. Both teams are now 2-2 after their runaway victories against the Royals.

Once again, Westwood gave the men’s team an early lead in the first match 6-3. Lee followed suit and beat his opponent 6-2, 6-4 in the second match. Despite winning the third match, the Beavers were unable to hold back the Eagles as they took the singles competition 5-1.  

Although Mountain and Lee lost the first doubles match, the Eagles took the next two matches, beating the Beavers 7-2.

Women break streak

The women’s team did well against Hope International University, beating the Royals 8-1. They swept the doubles competition and every player except senior Kathryn Ashford won their matches in the singles competition.

Their victory over the Royals capped their losing streak to three games and set their conference record even at two.

Both the men’s and women’s teams will continue with the GSAC matchups, playing Arizona Christian University on Sat., March 5 at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.