THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — In the first contest with Division III competition, Cal Lutheran Men's Tennis jumped out to a big lead after doubles and went on to defeat Chapman 5-4 on Thursday afternoon.

"We've been training extra hard for doubles lately and it made the difference today as we swept all three doubles matches," said tennis head coach Mike Gennette. "Then we were able to hold them off with wins from Corey and the clincher from freshman Rothermel."

The Kingsmen took an early 3-0 lead as they swept the Panthers in doubles play. 

Darvel Lossangoye and Ryan Murphy started the dual with an 8-5 at the No. 2. The Purple and Gold kept the strong play going as Charlie Spina and Sean Yaghoubi won 8-4 at the No 3. Jacob Bear and Corey Karen capped of the sweep as the duo won 8-7 (12-10) at the No. 1.

In singles play, CLU pushed its lead to 4-0 as Karen won 6-3, 6-0, at the No. 2 spot.

The Panthers fired back after that scoring three straight points. Murphy came up short 7-6, 6-1, at the No. 6, Lossangoye battled, but was defeated 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 4 and Bear was taken down 6-4, 7-5, at the No. 3.

With the Kingsmen up 4-3, the dual came down to the final two matches. 

The Purple and Gold had Shawn Rothermel at the No. 5 and Spina at the No. 1. 

Rothermel got the clinch for the Kingsmen. He was victorious in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3, and won the match for the Cal Lutheran.

Chapman added the final point to their total, as CLU won 5-4. After a tough battle, Spina was taken down 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

After a NCAA decision, the winner of the series between Cal Lutheran and Chapman will not get an automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. The Kingsmen will need an at-large berth to the tournament. 

Up next, CLU will travel to Chapman. The dual is set for April 10th at 10 a.m. 

MT Instagram: clumenstennis
MT Twitter: CLUmTennis
CLU Instagram: CLUSports
CLU Twitter: CLUSports
CLU Facebook: CLU Sports

Hashtags: #clusports #ownthethrone #goregals #gokingsmen #theSCIAC #ncaad3