Men's Tennis Eliminated From WCC Championships
4/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Gonzaga University and University of Portland went down to the wire at the West Coast Conference Championships Wednesday as the Pilots survived GU's upset bid 4-2 at the Barnes Tennis Center.
The defeat eliminates the Bulldogs (9-14) from the WCC Championships and concludes the 2013-14 season.
Looking to upset the third seeded Pilots, the Zags came out and snatched the doubles point by taking two of the three matches. First to finish was the senior duo of Jack Schoebel and Muzeen Ismath. Together they defeated Portland's Reid deLaubenfels and Kent Andreasen 8-5. The two end the year with seven wins as a team.
GU clinched the point with a win in the No. 2 contest between Joey Brandt and Vladimir Mijatovic and UP's Justin Guay and Michel Hu Kwo. Trailing 5-2 in the match, the Zags pair stormed back and captured the victory 8-5.
With the doubles point in hand, GU needed to split the six singles matches to earn the clinching fourth point. Unfortunately, Portland claimed four of the first five contests to avoid the upset.
Mijatovic was downed by deLaubenfels 6-3, 6-2 for Portland's first point. Gonzaga responded with an Ismath 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 5 on Alex Wallace. Shortly after the Pilots tied the match at two points each as Hayden Smith lost 6-2, 6-1 to Ratan Gill.
Portland took the final two matches of the day to end the Bulldogs season. UP's third point came at No. 4 where Guay defeated Schoebel 7-6, 6-3 and the match was clinched when Andreasen ousted Mosquera in three sets, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1.
Since Portland had claimed the match, the No. 1 contest between Nick Kamisar and Hu Kwo went unfinished.
The day also marked the end of the playing careers of a trio of Bulldogs. Team leaders Schoebel, Ismath and Mosquera wrapped up their time at GU while totaling 29 singles and 30 doubles wins this year.
