Battle Tested Kingsmen Tennis Wins Again

CLU top trio continues perfect singles start

Tuesday, Mar. 16, 2010 7:00 pm

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - A battle between two of the nation's top-15 teams took place at the Poulson Tennis Center on Tuesday afternoon as the Kingsmen knocked off No. 10 Amherst, 7-2. Ryan Lassila took the final five games of a 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles extending CLU's near-month long win streak to nine matches.

Box Score: CLU 7, AMC 2 - F

Cal Lutheran's strong start included a sweep in doubles capped off by Ryan Lassila and John Karsant earning an 8-6 victory as the No. 2 pairing. Lassila picked up win No. 50 in his doubles career having gone 50-25 during his three-plus years in a Kingsmen uniform.

Nick Ballou and Andrew Giuffrida continued their perfect seasons in both doubles and singles as the West's No. 3 ranked pairing won 8-6 to open Tuesday. Ballou pushed the CLU lead to four after cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 2 singles over Mark Kahan.

Giuffrida, who had eight straight set victories to his credit coming into the day dropped the opening set after falling 7-5 in a tiebreak. Self-motivating screams of "vamos" and screeching soles were the ambience of a determined Kingsmen against the quiet, methodical Austin Chafetz.

Having faced little adversity throughout the season the CLU No. 1 faced a match point down 7-6 in the second set tiebreak before reeling off three straight points forcing a match-deciding super tiebreak.

Trailing 5-0 and Chafetz half way to victory, Giuffrida fought back with eight straight points and on his second opportunity earned a match victory 6-7 (5), 7-6 (9), 1-0 (8). It marked his third win this season over a nationally ranked opponent this season.

The CLU top three singles players, who have combined to go 27-0 thus far, each earned West regional rankings after the latest poll came out earlier on Tuesday.

After taking a first set tiebreak 7-4, Justin Wilson found his rhythm against Surain Asokaraj blanking the Jeffs No. 6 player in a 7-6 (4), 6-0 victory.

Amherst's Moritz Koenig and Dan Kim earned straight set victories at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, respectively earning two points in the loss.

Cal Lutheran (9-0) looks to close out its eight-match homestand with an unblemished mark on Thursday, March 18 against No. 30 Salisbury (MD) starting at 1 p.m.