Men's tennis struggles against Oxy at home
Campus Times
March 7, 1997
Senior Aung Wun strives to keep the game afloat in a doubles match against
Occidental at the Blickenstaff Tennis Pavilion.
Youth came into play once again as the young University of La Verne
men's tennis team dropped its seventh match in a row, losing to the Occidental
Tigers 9-0 last Saturday.
ULV was led by sophomore David Dang, who presented the best showing
for the Leopards, but was eventually overtaken by Occidental's BJ Grant
6-1 and 6-3. Johnny McCool experienced an even tougher match than Dang,
but was not able to overcome Arnell Balbuena of Occidental, losing 6-0 and
6-2. Freshman Grant Schmidt also put up a courageous challenge against Oxy's
Eric Gibbs, but fell short 6-0 and 6-2.
"The team is very young, but we have a lot of potential,"
said Dang. "It is just a matter of us getting over the hump."
Dang and McCool proved to be the most effective team for the Leopards
in doubles, but Oxy's duo of Grant and Balbuena went on to take the Leopards
in two consecutive sets, 6-1, 6-3. Junior Frank Zappia and Schmidt attempted
to defeat Occidental's tandem of Gibbs and Calvin Liang, but were defeated
6-2, 6-1.
"My coaching philosophy on team play is that I want to know that
whether we win or lose, we gave 100 percent," said ULV head coach Tim
Fitzgerald.
Friday, Feb. 28, the Leopards matched themselves against the Panthers
(4-4) at Chapman. La Verne experienced more of the same problems they had
against Occidental. The Leopards were defeated by the same score that Occidental
won by. Chapman shut out the Leopards, taking the match, 9-0.
In singles competition, Dang desperately tried to get the advantage
on ULV's side, but fell prey to Chapman's James Baker, 6-3, 6-2. Juniors
Aung Wun and Zappia were not able to shake the Panthers as they were defeated
6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-2 respectively.
Chapman was just as effective against La Verne in doubles as well as
singles, using the team of senior Yukuta Nakamura and freshman Su Dang to
shut out the combination of Dang and Zappia 6-0, 6-0.
"We all get along, we play pretty much as a team. Everybody is
pulling for each other," Fitzgerald said.
"There are matches that we should have won, but we didn't, said
Dang. "We are actually coming together. We now have something that
is solid."
The 0-7 Leopards will look for its first win against the Caltech Beavers
(0-4, 2-5) today at 3 p.m. in Pasadena and will host Biola tomorrow at 10
a.m.