SAN DIEGO -- It all come down to court three on Tuesday.

That's where Sea Lion KC Ensley pulled out a three-set singles win and that's where the doubles team of Diego Tavera and Michael Zablan rallied to claim the clinching point in NAIA No. 7-ranked Point Loma Nazarene's 5-4 win over No. 11 Concordia.
 
“What a great doubles win for us,” said Point Loma head coach Rich Hills. “They [Zablan and Diego Tavara] looked down and out but came back to pull it out. The guys finished strong and gave us a much-needed win.”
 
This victory puts PLNU's record at 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the GSAC while the Eagles droped to a 2-3 season and are 2-2 in the conference.
 
Singles were played first and concluded indecisively, each side winning three of the six points.
 
Eagle Jan Guler beat Mike Zablan 6-1, 6-2 on court five for the day's first point. Loma responded with two wins on courts six and two. Chad Rubin on six won over Micah Groom 6-2, 6-0 while Greg De Andrade on two took his point from Ashkon Babaee 6-2, 6-4.
 
CUI tied it up again when Gernot Hagemann took the next match from Sea Lion Diego Tavera 7-6, 6-1 and then they pulled ahead when Loma's No. 1 Tyler Bowman fell to Concordia's Bruno Santarelli in three close sets. Bowman lost the first set 7-5 then came back to win the second 6-4. The final set went back and forth until Santarelli finally won 7-6 in a tie-breaker.
 
Sea Lion KC Ensley evened it up for Loma by rallying past the very vocal Rafael Countinho 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, on court three.
 
In doubles, CUI's Santarelli and Hagemann were down 5-2 but beat Bowman and De Andrade 8-6 on court one.  Ensley and Angel Tavera gave PLNU four points to tie when they triumphed 8-6 over Countinho and Guler on court two.
 
All eyes then turned to court three to watch Diego Tavera and Zablan rally from two games down to come out ahead of their Eagle opponents, Babaee and Patrick Szeremeta, 9-8 in a hotly contested tie-breaker.

When asked what it felt like to pick up the winning point, Zablan answered, "It was an amazing feeling! After being down 7-5 and having to fight back to win in a tie breaker and have all the fans out there rooting for us made it even better. But we really needed this win for our team since we started out [the season] slower than we hoped."
 
Next up for the men will be another home match against non-conference foe Grand Canyon Thursday at 2 pm.
                                                                           

#7 Point Loma Nazarene 5, #11 Concordia (CA) 4
02/21/12 at San Diego, CA (PLNU Courts)

Singles competition

1. SANTARELLI, Bruno (CUI) def. BOWMAN, Tyler (PLNU) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6

2. DE ANDRADE, Gregory (PLNU) def. BABAEE, Ashkon (CUI) 6-2, 6-4

3. ENSLEY, KC (PLNU) def. COUTINHO, Rafael (CUI) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3

4. HAGEMANN, Gernot (CUI) def. TAVERA, Diego (PLNU) 7-6, 6-1

5. GULER, Jan (CUI) def. ZABLAN, Michael (PLNU) 6-1, 6-2

6. RUBIN, Chad (PLNU) def. GROOM, Micah (CUI) 6-2, 6-0

Doubles competition

1. SANTARELLI, Bruno/HAGEMANN, Gernot (CUI) def. BOWMAN, Tyler/DE ANDRADE, Gregory (PLNU) 8-6

2. ENSLEY, KC/TAVERA, Angel (PLNU) def. COUTINHO, Rafael/GULER, Jan (CUI) 8-6

3. TAVERA, Diego/ZABLAN, Michael (PLNU) def. SZEREMETA, Patrick/BABAEE, Ashkon (CUI) 9-8

Match Notes

Concordia (CA) 2-3, 2-2 GSAC; National ranking #11

Point Loma Nazarene 1-2, 1-1 GSAC; National ranking #7

Order of finish: singles (5,6,2,4,1,3); doubles (1,2,3)

T-5:30