(SAN DIEGO) PLNU Men's Tennis earned a hard-fought win over Bowdoin on Wednesday night in a closely-contested contest that saw four singles matches go to three sets.
Point Loma trailed in all three doubles matches but came back to win two of the three to earn the doubles point, which proved to be the decider between the two teams.
After the Polar Bears won at No. 1 doubles, the visitors seemed to be on the verge of also winning at No. 3, leading 5-3.
However,
Matt Melosch and
Finn Kirschner broke their opponent's serve to prolong their match. Melosch's ace tied it at 5-5 before the duo earned another break to go ahead 6-5. Kirschner's serve was then returned into the net, meaning the doubles point would be determined by the winner on Court No. 2.
PLNU's No. 2 pairing of
Elias Weeks and
Lukas Schuster trailed 5-6 but they forced a tiebreak on the back of Weeks' serving. On match point, Bowdoin's return went long out of bounds, giving the Sea Lions a 1-0 overall lead.
Weeks clinching the doubles point was mere foreshadowing, as it was his singles win at No. 5 (7-5, 6-7, 6-3) that won Point Loma the match.
He trailed 4-5 in the first set but earned a break to take a 6-5 lead before holding serve. After dropping the second set in a tiebreak, Weeks dominated in the third to seal the victory.
Alexander Leischner (No. 1: 4-6, 6-3, 6-3) and Melosch (No. 3: 7-3, 7-6) were the other two Sea Lions to win their singles matches, while
David Strassburger (No. 2: 6-7, 6-4, 0-6) and Schuster (No. 4: 3-6, 6-2, 3-6) both forced a third set.
Leischner raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second to take control, while Melosch overcame a 5-6 deficit in the second set to win in a tiebreak.
Point Loma (7-3 overall) travels to Fresno for two matches this weekend, beginning on Friday at 9 a.m. against Metro State.
