CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Tennis Team split the first day of the Stag-Hen Invite, defeating No. 31 Swarthmore 6-3 in the first game before falling to No. 3 Bowdoin 7-2. The Sagehens showed their resilience in the first round against the Phoenix, coming back from a 2-1 loss in doubles with outstanding performances in singles. The Sagehens almost came back in the second match against the Polar Bears, with four singles matches going to three sets.
Pomona-Pitzer 6, Swarthmore 3
Jed Kronenberg and Nils Skattum worked to a hard-earned 8-5 victory in no. 3 doubles over Simon Vernier and Weiyi Zhu, but the doubles round was spoiled as Octave Bellet De Giacomoni and Josh Gearou fell in no. 1 doubles to Jiung Jung and Thibault Vernier 8-5, while Avery Bicks and Charlie Stark fell in no. 2 doubles 8-4 to John Lathrop and Evan Han.
Kronenberg set the tone for the comeback, dominating his no. 1 singles match against Jung with a pair of 6-1 sets. Bellet followed with a pair of 6-3 wins over Thibault Vernier in no. 2 singles, and Gearou followed in similar manner with a pair of 6-3 wins in no. 3 over Lathrop. Quinn Hirsohn battled in a three-set thriller against Simon Vernier in no. 4 singles, and prevailed 6-7, 6-1, and 6-2, while Jacob Schoenherr took no. 5 singles over Noah Criss 5-7, 6-2, 7-6. Avery Bicks fell in no. 6 singles to Han 6-2, 7-6.
Pomona-Pitzer 2, Bowdoin 7
The Polar Bears swept through the doubles round as Gearou and Bellet fell in no. 1 doubles to Grant Urken and Jerry Jiang 8-1. Bicks and Stark fell to Larry Zhao and Justin Wang in no. 2 8-6 and Kronenberg and Skattum lost no. 3 to Justin Patel and Oscar Yang 8-5.
Bellet bounced back from his doubles defeat with a strong performance in a three-set thriller against Yang in no. 3 singles. After dropping the first set 5-7, he bounced back with a 6-2 and 6-4 win. Sam Gearou has a strong game in no. 4., defeating Wang 6-4 and 6-2. Kronenberg had a close battle with Urken in no. 1 singles, winning the first set 6-3 before falling 2-6 and 1-6 in the next two sets. Josh Gearou also battled to three sets against Jiang in no. 2, winning the first set 6-4 before falling 2-6 and 1-6. Quinn Hirsohn took first set against Patel in no. 5 singles 6-3, but fell 5-7 and 6-10 in the next two. Jansen Comadena lost in three sets to Evan Fortier, winning 6-3 in the first before falling 4-6 and 4-10.
Up Next: The Sagehens will battle for third place in the Stag-Hen Invite tomorrow as they host Sewanee University at 10:30 a.m.
