Courting the Aces of Occidental Men’s Tennis

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Jan. 27, 2009) – With the rebuilding process underway for the men’s tennis program, six Tigers return to the court for the 2009 campaign and will be joined by a pair of newcomers and one student-athlete recovering from an injury. Occidental looks to improve upon their fourth place finish from a year ago.

Taking back to the court this spring will be the group of Victor Sowers, Mike Kuhn, Reid Fenning, Jamal Fahim, Stefan Pastor, and Jackson May. These players have been working extremely hard and have shown significant improvements at practices already.

Also donning black and orange for the first time will be Ben Harrington and Tyler Morgan while Chris Wan returns to the rotation after suffering a season ending injury last spring.

The Tigers will play a competitive 14-match regular season before SCIAC Championships. Occidental will first take the courts on Jan. 27 against Glendale JC before opening Division III action three days later. Eight times this spring the Tigers will play at home (with three matches scheduled at the Burbank Tennis Center).

Among the talented squads that Oxy will face this spring are five Top-25 teams, including #1 UC Santa Cruz and #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, who is also a conference rival. Another SCIAC school that is ranked is the University of Redlands at #10. The Tigers will play #15 Amherst as well.

Although the line-ups are not quite set yet, head coach Alberto Martin is anticipating some competition among his players.

“This year's team is well balanced with a lot of talented players who still have room to improve.”

In doubles action the senior duo of Kuhn and Fenning will combine to form an experienced and powerful team. The other combinations are yet to be determined and are up for grabs based on showings at practice.

The Tigers are ready for a competitive spring, not only with one another for certain spots, but within the conference as well.