LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Clark University men's tennis squad opened up spring break action on Friday as the Cougars fell in a 9-0 final against a tough Occidental Tigers team on a warm afternoon in Los Angeles. 

The Basics

Score: Tigers 9, Cougars 0 

Record: Clark University (2-4) | Occidental (3-1)

How it Happened

The Cougars began the day at No. 1 doubles as the team of Christian Ruebens (Cheshire, Conn.) and first-year Dariy Vykhodstev (Saco, Maine) fell in a 2-8 final. After that the team sent out another junior-rookie pairing as Nicholas Mathieu (Topsham, Maine) and Sam Pomann (Piermont, N.Y.) lost in a 1-8 decision at No. 2 doubles. The doubles portion of the match closed with another victory for the Tigers as the team of senior Jack Han (Bakersfield, Calif.) and sophomore Max Schweitzer (West Hartford, Conn.) fought close after being down 2-5, taking a few crucial games before ultimately losing in a 4-8 result. 

In singles play, Mathieu lost the hardest fought match of the day 3-6, 5-7 to Lucas Chmielewski.  No. 2 singles also featured a good match with Ruebens losing 3-6, 2-6 to David Zhang before Schweitzer fell in 1-6, 0-6 set scores to Occidental's Matthew O'Connor at No. 3 singles. 

Captain Alex Hattenbach (Wilton, Conn.) was dropped in a 2-6, 1-6 set scores result at No. 4 singles while graduate student Ian Levy (Needham, Mass.) appeared in his first match of the season for the team, losing in a 1-6, 2-6 decision. Finally, Pomann rounded out the match at No. 6 singles with the first-year being knocked off in an 0-6, 1-6 final to provide the Tigers with the 9-0 match win. 

Up Next

Clark continues their west coast trip against #2 Division 3 team Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Saturday afternoon Pacific Time.