Gauchos win thriller against Palomar

The Saddleback men's tennis team won its first match of the season with a 5-4 victory at Palomar College on Tuesday in San Marcos.  Lucas Fortt won a marathon match in the third set to pull out the victory.

Saddleback was coming off of a disappointing 8-1 loss on opening day to Glendale College and with a young team the coaches wanted to see how they could bounce back against Palomar on Tuesday.  The Gauchos responded with a solid overall performance, winning in a match that took nearly 3.5 hours.

The longevity of the match was related to court one, where Fortt was taking on Palomar's No. 1 Daniel Dimateo for all the marbles in the team match.  Fortt (pictured) won the opening set in a tiebreaker when he got the best of Dimateo, 9-7.  Dimateo then bounced back with a 6-4 win in set two to send the match to a super-tiebreaker.  With legs getting tired and temperatures dropping, Fortt managed to outlast Dimateo for a 13-11 win in the final set, pushing the Gauchos over the edge for a 5-4 win in the team match.

Saddleback won 2-of-3 doubles matches to start the day, with Max Svensson and Richard Jayasaputra teaming up for a 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles and Oliver Svensson and Thomas Henrick teaming for an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles.  Oliver Svensson would go on to win a second match when he beat Yuki Miyato 6-0, 6-0 at No. 5 singles. 

Saddleback (1-1) will play again at Grossmont College on Thursday at 2:00 PM.

Singles:

1. Lucas Fortt (SC) def. Daniel Dimateo (PC) 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 13-11
2. Nathan Buturla (PC) def. Richard Jayasaputra (SC) 6-1, 6-4
3. Carjeno Villamor (PC) def. Riley McCall (SC) 6-3, 6-3
4. Aiden Durtillo (PC) def. Max Svensson (SC) 6-4, 6-4
5. Oliver Svensson (SC) def. Yuki Miyato (PC) 6-0, 6-0
6. Aria Goshtaei (SC) def. Michael Piarulli (PC) Forfeit

Doubles:

1. Daniel Dimateo & Nathan Buturla (P) def. Lucas Fortt & Riley McCall (SC) 8-6
2. Max Svensson & Richard Jayasaputra (SC) def. Carjeno Villamor & Michael Piarulli (PC) 9-7
3. Oliver Svensson & Thomas Henrick (SC) def. Aiden Durtillo & Yuki Miyato (PC) 8-3