The Pacific University men’s tennis season came to an end April 19 as the Boxers lost 5-0 to the Whitman Missionaries in the Northwest Conference semifinals.
The Missionaries have yet to lose a conference match all season, standing at 13-0 in the NWC and 18-6 overall.
On April 14, Whitman won its 100th straight NWC match and its 6th consecutive NWC Championship.
The Boxers finished the 2013 season with a 6-12 overall record.
The No. 1 match saw junior Troy Zuroske playing without his normal partner, sophomore Giancarlo Battaglia.
Battaglia was unable to play due to a strained Achilles tendon.
Freshman Lorne Bulling took Battaglia’s place alongside Zuroske.
The duo fought to a tiebreaker against Colton Malesovas and Andrew La Cava of Whitman.
Malesovas and La Cava outlasted Zuroske and Bulling, winning the match 9-8 (7-5).
In the next matches, senior Kolin Wong and sophomore Alen Suklje were up.
They were swept 8-0 by Whitman’s Steven Roston and Andy Riggs.
Sophomore Brandon Schlack and freshman David Yanagita lost 8-3 to Matt Tesmond and Sam Sadeghi.
The Boxers also lost their singles matches, with Zuroske losing to Malesovas 6-0, 4-2; Suklje losing to Riggs 6-4, 6-0; Schlack losing to Sadeghi 6-4, 4-3; and Bulling losing to Roston 6-1, 6-3.
Despite the loss, Director of tennis Brian Jackson said that he is proud of his team.
He cited that the men’s team fought hard but were simply outmatched by Whitman.
Even with what many may see as a down season after the Boxers finished 13-6 a year ago, Jackson believes that the team is still getting better.
The men’s team is still very young, and only Wong will be leaving for graduation.
Pacific’s power tandem of Zuroske and Battaglia will be back next year, after finishing 10-5 in doubles competition this season.
Zuroske also finished with a 10-6 singles record and was named to the All-NWC team in 2011 and 2012.
Both Zuroske and Battaglia were named NWC student-Athletes of the Week during the month of February.
Next season begins Spring 2014.
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