SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Westmont edged the Point Loma men's tennis team 5-4 on Saturday (Mar. 22).

Westmont (8-3), which is ranked No. 5 in the NAIA, overcame the Sea Lions (4-10) winning doubles. PLNU opened the match by taking two of three doubles matches. Brooks Baldinger and Michael Zablan earned a hard fought point at No. 1 doubles over the dup from Westmont 9-8, including taking the tiebreaker 8-6. Daniel Milliken and Kevin McKelligan faced a similar battle at No. 3 doubles as they were able to slip past Nicholas Szyndlar and Travis Kimsey 9-7.

The matched then moved over to singles. Brooks Baldinger earned a three set win over the No. 8 ranked player in the NAIA, Rodrigo Schaefer, 6-3, 5-7 and 6-2. Martin Blaho picked up the Sea Lions' second point in singles, and fourth in the match, with a 4-6, 7-5 and 7-5 win over No. 35 ranked John Bertram at No. 3s. However those would be the last points of the match that PLNU would pick up as Westmont was able to take other four singles matches to edge the Sea Lions.

Point Loma's next match will be Monday, Mar. 24 against Williams at 3:00 p.m.

#5 Westmont 5, Point Loma 4
Singles competition
1. Baldinger, Brooks (PLNU-MT) def. #8 SCHAEFER, Rodrigo (WC) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2
2. #13 GORANSON, Tim (WC) def. Zablan, Michael (PLNU-MT) 6-3, 6-1
3. Blaho, Martin (PLNU-MT) def. #35 BERTRAM, John (WC) 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
4. #45 BARNARD, Joshua (WC) def. Kaster, Kaptan (PLNU-MT) 6-4, 7-5
5. KIMSEY, Travis (WC) def. Milliken, Daniel (PLNU-MT) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. SZYNDLAR, Nicholas (WC) def. Hammond, Benjamin (PLNU-MT) 6-0, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Baldinger, Brooks/Zablan, Michael (PLNU-MT) def. #2 SCHAEFER, Rodrigo/BARNARD, Joshua (WC) 9-8 (8-6)
2. #15 GORANSON, Tim/BERTRAM, John (WC) def. Blaho, Martin/Kaster, Kaptan (PLNU-MT) 8-1
3. Milliken, Daniel/McKelligan, Kevin (PLNU-MT) def. KIMSEY, Travis/SZYNDLAR, Nicholas (WC) 9-7

Match Notes
Point Loma 4-10
Westmont 8-3; National ranking #5
T-2:50 A-34