Claremont, Calif. (March 10, 2014) This week in Sagehens Athletics saw the Men’s Tennis team win a dramatic home match with Mary Washington, while four Pitzer athletes won individual events at a SCIAC Multi-Dual meet at Strehle Track.
Graham Maassen ’17 won a dramatic third-set tiebreaker to give Men’s Tennis a 5-4 win over Mary Washington.
Men’s Tennis (ranked No. 16 nationally) had the dramatic match of the week, defeating No. 17 Mary Washington 5-4 on Thursday at Pauley Tennis Complex. The match was decided at No. 3 singles, where Graham Maassen ’17 won 8-6 in a third-set tiebreaker. Maassen won the first set, dropped the second and was down 5-3 in the third, but pulled back even after fighting off two match points on his opponent’s serve. Maassen led 6-3 in the tiebreaker with three match points, before his opponent battled back to fight off three match points and get even at 6-6. Maassen then won a three-minute long rally, at one point chasing down what looked like a Mary Washington winner along the sideline and somehow keeping the ball in play, and clinched the match on his service return on the ensuing point.
Christopher Wiechert ’14 had a dominant effort for the Sagehens as well, cruising to a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 1 singles and earning an 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles. The Sagehens have a busy week ahead, hosting No. 6 Trinity (Texas) on Monday, No. 26 Skidmore on Tuesday and No. 11 Bowdoin on Friday in the first of three matches at the annual Stag-Hen Invitational. The Sagehens will face either No. 3 CMS or Swarthmore in its second match of the day on Friday and then close out the tournament on Saturday.
Men’s Track and Field and Women’s Track and Field hosted a SCIAC Multi-Dual meet with five schools at Strehle Track on Saturday and the Sagehens produced several individual winners. Paul Messana ’17 won the 800 meters, and Bennett Kopperud ’16 won the 400-meter hurdles. On the women’s side, Rhea Jayachandran ’16 won the 400-meter hurdles, and Alex Oxborough-Yankus ’14 finished in first place in the javelin.
Women’s Water Polo also hosted its biggest event of the year, with 21 teams visiting the Sagehens, CMS and La Verne for the annual Convergence Tournament. The Sagehens gave themselves a difficult schedule with three top 12 teams, falling to No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 11 UC San Diego and No. 12 Long Beach State, but took an 11-8 win over Cal State Monterey Bay to go 1-3 on the weekend. Carter Grant ’15 scored the goal that put the Sagehens ahead to stay in the fourth quarter against CSU Monterey Bay, while Ahsha Earwood ’17 had nine saves, including several key ones during a 6-0 fourth-quarter run. Alyssa Woodward ’15 had three goals in a tight 11-6 loss to UC San Diego and finished with eight over the weekend, while Hope Grant ’17 had two against Long Beach State.
Men’s Golf competed at the Las Vegas Desert Classic and was led by Brian Fong ’17 with a two-day 158, including the low round for the Sagehens of 76 on the second day.
Softball broke into the win column with a split at Occidental, as Ashley Morello ’15 batted 5-for-7 in the doubleheader to lead the offense. The Sagehens travel to Chapman on Friday and then host CMS on Saturday at 12 noon.
Baseball dropped a three-game weekend series to Whittier, but had some strong performances from Pitzer athletes. E.J. Lopez ’15 was 2-for-4 with three RBI and Coleman Lukas ’14 was 3-for-5 with two RBI in a 15-9 loss to the Poets in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader, while Jackson Badger ’14 was 2-for-3 in the nightcap. Lopez also had two RBI in the opener of the series at Whittier to help the Sagehens to a 4-1 lead, but the Poets came back for a 6-4 win with four runs in the eighth. Baseball hosts Ithaca in a non-league game on Monday and then entertains Chapman in a SCIAC contest on Friday.
To keep up to date with all of the news from Sagehens athletics, visit us on line at www.sagehens.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sagehens or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sagehens (@Sagehens).
This Week’s Schedule
Home Events In Bold
Monday, March 10
Baseball (H) vs. Ithaca, 3 p.m.
Men’s Tennis (H) vs. Trinity (Texas), 4 p.m.
Tuesday, March 11
Men’s Tennis (H) vs. Skidmore, 4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 12
Women’s Tennis (H) vs. Vassar, 4 p.m.
Women’s Water Polo (H) vs. Bucknell, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 13
Women’s Golf at Augustana Spring Fling, 9 a.m.
Women’s Tennis (H) vs. Carnegie Mellon, 4 p.m.
Friday, March 14
Women’s Golf at Augustana Spring Fling, 9 a.m.
Men’s Tennis (H) vs. Bowdoin, 10 a.m.
Men’s Golf at Chapman, 12 p.m.
Women’s Water Polo vs. VMI, 12 p.m. (at Redlands)
Softball at Chapman, 2 p.m. (DH)
Baseball (H) vs. Chapman, 3 p.m.
Men’s Tennis (H) vs. CMS or Swarthmore, 3 p.m.
Women’s Water Polo vs. St. Francis (N.Y.), 4:30 p.m. (at Redlands)
Men’s Track and Field at Occidental Distance Carnival, 5 p.m.
Women’s Track and Field at Occidental Distance Carnival, 5 p.m.
Saturday, March 15
Men’s Tennis (H) vs. TBA, 10 a.m. (Stag-Hen Invitational)
Baseball at Chapman, 11 a.m. (DH)
Softball (H) vs. CMS, 12 p.m. (DH)
Sunday, March 16
Women’s Golf at Cal Lutheran Invitational, 9 a.m.
Women’s Tennis (H) vs. Bowdoin, 11 a.m.
Monday, March 17
Women’s Golf at Cal Lutheran Invitational, 9 a.m.
Women’s Tennis (H) vs. Amherst, 9:30 a.m.
Baseball (H) vs. Wesleyan, 11 a.m.
Men’s Tennis (H) vs. Whitman, 1 p.m.
