CSULB Men’s Tennis Team Wins PCAA

No. 15 Cal State Long Beach won the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. men’s tennis championship Sunday at San Jose by outscoring defending champion UC Irvine, 53-35.

Fresno State finished third (33 points), followed by San Jose State (32), UC Santa Barbara (28), Nevada-Las Vegas (23), New Mexico State (9), Utah State (7) University of the Pacific (4) and Cal State Fullerton (1).

“We felt at the start of the race we were in our best sneakers,” said UCI Coach Greg Patton, whose team finished 18-12. “Midway through, they (Long Beach) were on a sleek 10-speed and we were on tricycle. By the end of the tournament, they were in a turbo and we were in a wheelbarrow.”

In No. 1 singles play, Scott Warner of Las Vegas defeated John Le Clercq of Fresno, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2. In other singles action, Greg Failla of Long Beach defeated Mark Murphy of San Jose, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; Craig Miller of Long Beach defeated Marcello Pella of San Jose, 6-4, 6-2; Peter Smith of Long Beach defeated Mark Capland of UCI, 7-6, 6-1; Kevin Gillette of Long Beach defeated Peter Billgert of Fresno, 6-2, 6-4; and Layne Lyssy of San Jose defeated Julian Barham of UCI, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

In doubles play, Gillette and Miller defeated Scott Morse and Steve Leier of UCSB, 6-3, 7-5; Barham and Capland defeated Smith and Vince Horcasitas of Long Beach, 6-3, 6-1; and Richard Berg and Failla defeated Billgert and Chris Macias of Fresno, 7-6, 6-3.