No. 7 Cal Lutheran hands Chapman a loss in home opener

ORANGE, Calif. –  The Chapman University men's tennis team dropped its first match of the year losing 7-2 to visiting Cal Lutheran at the Chapman Tennis Courts on Saturday. The Panthers were able to salvage one match from singles and doubles respectively against the Kingsmen, ranked No. 7 in Division III.

Chapman junior Alex Klein started his season on a positive note from the No. 6 seed, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 over Cal Lutheran's Cody Kowalczyk. Klein's victory comes off of an impressive sophomore year when he won eight matches, primarily from the three and four seeds. Chapman was unable to capture another victory from the singles matches despite a nail-biter in the No. 5 match where freshman Chris Williams lost his first career match 7-5, 7-5 to the Cal Lu's Marcelo Sousa. 

The Panthers No. 2 doubles team, sophomore Dylan Tevlin and senior Giovanni Villicana, succeeded in dramatic fashion winning in extra games 9-7. Chapman lost its other two doubles matches 8-4 and 8-6.

Chapman (0-1) looks to win its first match of the season hosting Occidental College on Friday, February 11 at 2 p.m.

Match Results:

Doubles:

1) Nick Ballou/Ray Worley (CLU) def. Andre Herd/Chris Williams (CU) 8-4
2) Dylan Tevlin/Giovanni Villicana (CU) def. Andrew Giuffrida (CLU) 9-7
3) Justin Wilson/Cody Kowalczyk (CLU) def. Kevin Smyth/Brian Higashi (CU) 8-6

Singles:

1) Ballou (CLU) def. Herd (CU) 6-1, 6-2
2) Giuffrida (CLU) def. Tevlin (CU) 6-0, 6-1
3) Worley (CLU) def. Villicana (CU) 6-2, 2-0 ret.
4) Wilson (CLU) def. Smyth (CU) 6-2, 6-3
5) Sousa (CLU) def. Williams (CU) 7-5, 7-5
6) Klein (CU) def. Kowalczyk (CLU) 6-4, 6-4

by Robert Flicker
Sports Information Intern