Tennis Roundup : Chapman Players Advance at NCAA Division 2 Nationals

Three singles players and one doubles team from Chapman College survived the opening rounds of the NCAA Division 2 men’s tennis championships at Cal State Northridge Thursday.

No. 6-seeded Terry Davis of Chapman moved into tomorrow’s third-round singles, beating Chris Langford of Stephen F. Austin University, 6-7 (8-6), 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), and Dan Merritt of the University of Tennessee-Martin, 7-6 (7-4), 0-6, 6-3.

The Panthers’ Paul Wekesa also qualified for the third round with two narrow victories. He upset No. 3-seeded Khalid Outaleb of Florida Tech, 7-6 (11-9), 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), and followed by beating Cal State Hayward’s Mark Pitcher, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-1.

John Kline of Chapman advanced by defeating Bruce Kurtz of Florida Atlantic, 6-2, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, and Neil Smith of Stephen F. Austin, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).

The Panther doubles team of Kline and Chris Dundas defeated a team from Tennessee-Martin to move into today’s second round.

Two other Chapman singles players were eliminated in early rounds. No. 2-seeded Troy Turnbull of Chapman beat Datus Murray of Hampton College in the first round, 6-3, 6-0, but was then upset by Hampton’s Rozzell Lightfoot, 6-3, 6-1.

Chapman’s John Hancock beat Felipe Porto of East Stroudsburg State of Pennsylvania., 6-3, 6-3, but lost in the second round to No. 11-seeded Tom Goles of Stephen F. Austin.

The Panther doubles team of Turnbull and Davis was eliminated by a team from Millersville State (Pa.)

In community college tennis:

Foothill 5, Saddleback 1--The Gauchos, Southern California’s community college champions, were defeated by northern California champion Foothill in the state men’s community college dual team championship at Chabot College.

Foothill’s victory avenged a 6-3 win by Saddleback in last year’s state championship. It also marked the 13th time in the past 14 years that a northern California team has earned the state championship.

Saddleback’s only individual victory came in the No. 3 singles match as John Rusk defeated Kelly Kerner, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3. The Gauchos finished the season with a 15-3 record.