Wesleyen Men Wrap Up West Coast Road Trip

Wesleyen Men Wrap Up West Coast Road Trip

Claremont, Calif. - The 15th-ranked men's tennis team of N.C. Wesleyan wrapped up its road trip to the west coast on Friday, completing a three-day span of matches versus #16 Pomona-Pitzer, #8 Trinity (Tex.) and #4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Bishops opened play with a 6-3 win over Pomona-Pitzer on Wednesday before dropping 6-3 and 7-2 decisions to Trinity and CMS on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Versus #16 Pomona-Pitzer, all three doubles flights ended in 8-5 scores, with the Bishop duo of Robert Kjellberg/Artsiom Prostak winning at the top seed, as well as Peter Hviid/Johan Ljungdahl winning at the #2 seed. Kjellberg, Ljungdahl, Hviid and Marcus Pola proceeded to tally singles victories en route to the 6-3 final. Ljungdahl and Pola were straight-set winners, while Kjellberg and Hviid needed three sets to secure their matches.

Next up was #8 Trinity on Thursday, and Wesleyan fell behind early after suffering a sweep in doubles play. NCWC's best shot at a point came at the top-seed where Kjellberg/Prostak fell 8-6.

In singles play, Prostak, Ljungdahl and Pola were three-set winners at the #2, #3 and #5 flights, respectively. Kjellberg, the nation's 2nd-ranked player, was upset in a three-set thriller versus TU's Aaron Skinner, falling 14-12 in the third. In the end, the Bishops fell by a 6-3 score in a match that was just a few games from being a 5-4 NCWC victory.

On Friday, the Bishops wrapped up play against #4 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The Stags dominated doubles action, while Kjellberg and Ljungdahl earned Wesleyan's two points in singles play. Prostak narrowly missed a third point when he fell 10-8 in the #2 flight tiebreaker.

Wesleyan will return to action in USA South play next Saturday and Sunday when the Bishops travel to Piedmont and LaGrange.