The Pomona-Pitzer men’s tennis defeated rival CMS last Friday in the semifinals of the SCIAC tournament before losing to Redlands in the final. The Sagehens reversed their earlier 4-3 loss to the Stags by winning the last three matches of the day. This resulted in the Sagehens sharing second place in SCIAC.

The Hens were looking to even things up after losing their first encounter with CMS. "We were all pretty pumped up because we lost the first match," said Samir Vora ’03. However, the Stags struck first, sweeping the doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. This unexpected loss forced the Hens to regroup.

The Hens split the first two singles matches to finish. Sam Gaines ’03 beat All-SCIAC Second Team member Garrett Lee CMC ’02 at third singles 6-4, 6-0. Gaines lost their previous match and this victory proved to be critical. However, Vora dropped his match at fourth singles 2-6, 2-6.

That loss gave CMS a 2-1 lead with four matches to go. Each of these matches went three sets adding to the tension. The first match to be decided pitted two All-SCIAC First Team selections, J. R. Hall ’04 and Zach Myers CMC ’03. Hall had won the first match a couple of weeks ago and his teammates expected him to win on Friday as well.

This time however Hall dropped the first set 6-4 and fell behind in the second set. Hall fought back to win the second set 7-6 and "really inspired the team," said Vora. Still, Hall lost the third set 2-6 and left the Hens down 3-1 with three matches to play.

At second singles, All-SCIAC selection Dave Fern ’01 provided the first victory winning 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

The final two matches went to tie-breakers in the third sets. Sophomore Jamie Frank won first. After losing the first set 3-6, Frank ran away with the second set 6-1 before the marathon third set. Frank’s victory at sixth singles avenged the Sagehens’ loss in the previous CMS match.

Frank’s victory evened the score at 3-3 and put the weight of the Pomona-Pitzer’s tennis hopes on sophomore Mike Benaroya’s shoulders. Benaroya split the first two sets 6-4, 5-7. By the end of the third set both teams and thousands of fans crowded around the court awaiting the outcome. The match, so evenly played, came down to a tiebreaker. "The whole season was riding on that tiebreaker," said Gaines. No pressure though. In a extremely clutch performance, Benaroya fought off a couple of match points before finally winning by a final score of 6-4, 5-7, 7-6.

Benaroya’s win was a fitting end to the Sagehen-Stag rivalry that has been very close this year. "We could have won the match a couple of weeks ago and they [CMS] certainly could have won last Friday," said Coach Ryan Witt.

Winning still took a peak performance. "We really played as a team. And showed character we haven’t in the past." Vora said. "They played unreal! They played their booties off like I have never seen," said Witt.

That is not to say the Hens were not confident that they would even the score with CMS. "We knew we were going to beat them when it really mattered," said Gaines.

The Hens victory also gave them the opportunity to play undefeated Redlands. Redlands, with the SCIAC MVP and six ALL-SCIAC selections overwhelmed the Hens. Redlands continued their dominance winning 7-0. The bright spot was Vern who forced a tiebreaker in the third set before falling 4-6, 7-6, 6-7.

The Hens started the SCIAC tournament against Caltech. The Hens won easily, sweeping the doubles matches and with the first three singles matches. Once victory was assured, the last three matches were suspended.

The Hens will be away this weekend at the Ojai tournament.