The Trail

Issue date: 2/16/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Matt Loewen Captains Nick Amland (right) and Andrew Oates team up to form a formidable doubles tandem against Linfield.

The UPS men's tennis team hosted their first conference games of the 2007 season this weekend, facing off against the Whitman Missionaries, the University of Santa Cruz Banana Slugs and the Linfield Wildcats. Playing some of the conference's top competition, the Loggers lost to Whitman 0-9, and fell to Linfield by a score of 1-8. Santa Cruz is not a member of the NWC, so the Loggers' 0-9 loss will not count in the conference standings.

Both Santa Cruz and Whitman are nationally ranked, so the team knew they would be challenged heading into this weekend's matches.

"Going up against some of the better teams in the conference, we went in just trying to do well and keep our confidence up," junior captain Nick Amland said. "We knew they'd come out blazing."

Obviously, the Loggers did not have the success they had hoped for this weekend, but the team remains optimistic.

"We were a little disappointed with the performance, but it's only the first weekend of conference play," Amland said. "We can move forward from this because we improved over the course of the weekend. We all need to keep progressing and keep our heads up as we're facing this tough competition."

He went on to describe how the team has improved in the little time they have spent together this season. Senior Andrew Neal has put in some solid performances as he took four games from Santa Cruz's number one player to make the second match close. Sophomore Jamie Hosmer also played well against Whitman, as he took one set and lost the tie breaker 10-7.

The doubles tandem of Neal and junior Kai Sato has also performed well, as they have took three games against Santa Cruz and five against Whitman, more than any other Logger duo.

Senior captain Andrew Oates teamed with Amland for the first time against Linfield. The duo performed well and has the team hopefull about it's doubles. Full results for the Linfield match weren't available as The Trail went to press.

Amland felt good about his own personal doubles partner and about the performances of his teammates in the category as well.

"Some of our doubles team's match up really well. We'll definitely have the talent to be successful in that area this season," Amland said. "But I'm also looking forward to our play in singles and just overall as a team. We are so deep talent and skill-wise and I know we're going to continue to improve and play well."

Continued...

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