With the SCIAC season complete and under their belt, the Pomona-Pitzer Men’s Tennis Team traveled to Ojai for the Division III Individual tournament and prepared for their upcoming regional battle against UC-Santa Cruz. In the meantime, Bridget Humphrey ’00 prepared for Nationals as the Women’s season concluded.

In Ojai last weekend, the top singles and doubles players from Pomona-Pitzer and other parts of the nation gathered to battle in tournament-style competition. The team’s success was limited, but still several individual wins came unexpected.

Chris Ross ’00 won his first match in upset style against a player from the notorious UCSC, while Dylan Nachand ’01 and Adam Saphire ’99 won their first round matches against players from Cal Lutheran and Colorado College respectively.

"I had a pretty easy first round match against the number one player from Cal Lutheran," commented Nachand. "[But] in my second match I played Thomas Ochelle from Santa Cruz, the number one player in the nation. He was very good." Nachand lost that match 6-2, 6-1, but playing the nation’s top Division III player is never easy.

In doubles, Ken Su ’99 and David Fern ’01 made a run straight into the quarterfinals where they faced the number two doubles team from UCSC. Up 5-2 in the decisive third set, the pair struggled and lost the set 7-5.

Despite a 7-5, 2-6, 5-7 loss, Fern and Su exited the competition valiantly losing to several of the best players in the nation.

As for Nachand, he said that "Saphire and I lost [our first round] doubles match. It was pretty tough because it was the third match of the day." Throughout the day Pomona-Pitzer unluckily had to face players from UCSC several times, with Ross pulling out the only victory.

UC- Santa Cruz is not only the number one team in the region, but comprises the entire nation’s top Division III squad. Pomona-Pitzer faced them earlier in the season only to be defeated 6-1, with Nachand ’01, the "slug killer," pulling out a huge singles victory.

When the team faces UCSC this Saturday, they hope to replicate Nachand’s individual success and pull out an overall win.

"It is going to be a tough match," said Fern," but we are looking forward to it. We are going into it with nothing to lose, [hoping to pull out] an upset."

"I think that if everybody comes out and plays their hardest we have a chance. But we’ll see," said Nachand.

While the men’s team plans to take on the "Banana Slugs," Bridget Humphrey ’00 prepares for the Women’s Division III Nationals as the last hope for her team.

Though as a team Pomona-Pitzer fell just shy of qualifying for nationals, Humphrey earned an individual spot due to her team ranking and her excellent play all season long.

"Bridget’s had a good season," said Sheree Schwartz ’02. "She was selected by the Nationals committee because she played well this season as the number one player [for our team]."

Humphrey will travel all the way across the country to square off with the nation’s Division III individual stars in New Jersey. 32 singles player, as well as 16 doubles teams and 14 entire squads receive the call to attend nationals. Unfortunately, Heather Gorman ’00 tore a ligament in SCIAC play and will be unable to attend as Humphrey’s doubles partner.

"I wish Heather could go with me so we could play doubles," remarked Humphrey. "[But still] the season has been pretty good. I wish we could have qualified for Nationals [as a team], but hopefully [we will] next year."

With new recruits the women’s squad will seek that elusive team invite to nationals with determination next year.

As for the Men’s team, well, they feel they can still kill a slug before this season ends. I did read somewhere that slugs are a part of the Sagehen’s diet.