Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 IRVINE Calif. – Both Concordia University Irvine tennis teams look to build off recent momentum as they head down the stretch run of the regular season.  The CUI men and women each earned five wins in March and have key matches with Point Loma and Biola on deck in the first week of April.

The CUI men's team battled a tough UC San Diego squad on Monday and the contest came down to the very last two matches.  After the Tritons took the doubles point to go up 1-0, Yassine Smiej controlled the tempo and tied the match by winning the No. 1 singles point, 6-4, 6-2. The No. 4 singles pairing also went to the Green and Gold as Teis Visser walked off the court with a hard-fought 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 comeback victory.

With the Tritons leading 3-2, CUI senior Thomas Kyle dropped his first set 5-7 before battling back to take the second set 7-6 (7-2).  Unfortunately, his counterpart Sreeganesh Manoharan was able to regain control and won the third set 6-1 to win the point and the match for the Tritons.

"Going into this one, we knew it was probably going to come down to our last two guys," said CUI coach Jonathan Sanchez. "I was really happy with the way our guys fought. They fought really hard and they played as hard as they could. UC San Diego just played better than us."

Before facing UC San Diego, the CUI men's squad racked up three straight victories in early March. CUI knocked off San Diego Christian College, Navy and Western New Mexico in a span of eight days.  The Eagles also bested Daemon College 6-0 before earning a clutch 4-2 road victory over Point Loma.

Against the Sea Lions, CUI had to earn all four points in singles after dropping the doubles point.  Nikita Katsnelson (No. 2 singles) won 6-0, 6-1, and Daniel Reddmann won a tough matchup at No. 3 singles 7-5, 6-4 to put the Eagles back on track.  Thomas Kyle (No. 5 singles) and Otto Heinz (No. 6 singles) each won in straight sets to clinch the victory for the Eagles.

The CUI women's tennis team earned five victories over the course of March and finished strong with back-to-back wins over Point Loma and Hawaii Hilo.  The duo of Ghazal Pakbaten and Johanna Keeline were on the winning side against both the Sea Lions and Vulcans and together the pair enters April ranked No. 45 nationally in DII ITA rankings. Pakbaten also moved up to No. 16 nationally in DII ITA singles rankings.  

"Her ranking has gone up and up and (Pakbaten) just keeps doing better and better," said Sanchez.  "That's the movement you want to see."

"Jojo is an awesome doubles player and I know how much it means to her and G-Pak to finally get that ranking," continued Sanchez. "It's huge and I know it's a huge motivating factor for them to see how far they can keep going."

Against Point Loma, Pakbaten defeated Shelby Groeneveld 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.  Taylor Lau and Keeline also won in straight sets in the No. 2 and No. 4 singles matches respectively, while Halle Van Natta emerged victorious in the No. 6 singles match by a count of 6-1, 6-3 to cap the scoring.

Against Hawai'i Hilo, CUI won the doubles point and then Pakbaten defeated Marina Colvee 6-1, 6-3. About an hour later, Lisa Suzuki and Samantha Schuster each won in straight sets to clinch the win 4-0 over the Vulcans.  In the doubles matchup, Schuster and Van Natta combined for a crucial 7-6 win with the tiebreaker coming down to a 7-5 decision in that matchup.

The CUI women's team also dominated Dominican 7-0 in its Code Yellow match and took care of business against Western New Mexico by a final score of 6-1.  The Eagles swept all three doubles matches against the Penguins and Mustangs, and Pakbaten, Lau and Suzuki each needed only two sets to emerge victorious on both days to sew up the wins.

Both tennis teams host Point Loma on Wednesday, April 3 at The Tennis Club at Newport Beach.  Both CUI squads will then celebrate Senior Day on Thursday, April 4 at the same location against Biola.

For the full CUI men's tennis schedule, click here.

For the full CUI women's tennis schedule, click here.