SAN DIEGO - The No. 42 Point Loma men's tennis team scrapped, clawed and came back to win the match against No. 13 Williams, 5-4, on Monday, Mar. 23.
 
The Sea Lions pulled one match within .500 at 8-9 while Williams moved to 1-1.
 
The match started with Ephs taking No. 1 and No. 3 doubles. However, the duo of Martin Blaho and CJ Erion made sure PLNU would not go in the hole any further. Trailing 7-6 Blaho and Erion fought back, including breaking the Ephs' serve, to push the match to a tiebreaker where they won 9-8 to cut the Williams' lead to 2-1.
 
"No matter the score if you win the last doubles match you have momentum going into singles," Point Loma head coach Curt Wheeler said.  
 
Singles started with Martin Blaho evening the match at 2-2 with a 6-1 and 6-1 win at No. 2. After Williams retook the lead with a victory at No. 4s, Erion and Jack Alston won within minutes of each other at No. 5 and No. 6 to put PLNU in front 4-3 for its first lead of the day. Williams then won at No. 3 to knot the match at 4-4 and bring it all down to No. 1 singles.
 
Andre Staab had the match riding on his shoulder after pushing it to a tiebreaker. Both teams came over with to watch their No. 1s go for the victory, and Staab seized the opportunity with a 6-2 win in the decisive third set.
 
"Tennis is at its most exciting when it is 4-4 and comes down to that last match," said Wheeler. "This was a great bounce back match from Saturday."

Point Loma is now 2-3 this season in matches decided by one point. 
 
The Sea Lions' next match will be Tuesday, Mar. 31 against Hawaii Hilo at 4:00 p.m. 
 
#42 Point Loma 5, #14 Williams 4
Singles competition
1. Staab, Andre (PLNU-MT) def. Raventos, Jose (WILLIAMS) 6-7, 6-3, 6-2
2. Blaho, Martin (PLNU-MT) def. Schidlovsky, Alex (WILLIAMS) 6-1, 6-1
3. Harron, Conrad (WILLIAMS) def. Tenbroeck, James (PLNU-MT) 7-5, 6-1
4. Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) def. Milliken, Daniel (PLNU-MT) 6-4, 6-3
5. Erion, CJ (PLNU-MT) def. Sadowsky, Jordan (WILLIAMS) 6-3, 6-2
6. Alston, Jack (PLNU-MT) def. Weiss, Howard (WILLIAMS) 6-3, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Sadowsky, Jordan/Schidlovsky, Alex (WILLIAMS) def. Staab, Andre/Milliken, Daniel (PLNU-MT) 8-3
2. Blaho, Martin/Erion, CJ (PLNU-MT) def. Raventos, Jose/Shastri, Rohan (WILLIAMS) 9-8
3. Astrachan, Brian/Harron, Conrad (WILLIAMS) def. Tenbroeck, James/Alston, Grant (PLNU-MT) 8-5

Match Notes:
Williams 1-1; National ranking #14; Regional ranking #3
Point Loma 8-9; National ranking #42; Regional ranking #5
T-4:04 A-44