By Beth Renkoski

03/07/09

Sunbirds Soar Past Vanguard

Costa Mesa, Calif – The NAIA sixth-ranked Vanguard Lions continued the gruelling GSAC schedule by playing their fourth NAIA top-ten team in a row. Facing the second-ranked Fresno Pacific Sunbirds for the first time this season, the Lions got a glimpse of why the conference-leading Sunbirds are 8-0 overall and 5-0 in GSAC this season.

The Sunbirds dominated in doubles play to open the match with a 3-0 lead. Florian Lemke and Nils Iwdal were edged 9-7 in the third doubles match to complete FPU’s sweep, as the Sunbirds won 8-3 and 8-5 in the first two pairs, respectively.

Vanguard’s only two points in the match came from Lemke (6-3, 6-3) in the top singles match, and Tino Brodar, who earned a 6-3, 6-2, victory in the No. 4 spot. The Sunbirds posted straight set wins in the other four matches for the 7-2 victory, dropping Vanguard to 6-4 overall and 3-4 in GSAC

Vanguard returns to the courts on Tuesday when the Lions travel to Pomona for a nonconference match against NCAA Division II Cal Poly Pomona. The men’s match is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m.

Today’s  Match Scores:

No. 6 Vanguard (6-4, 3-4 GSAC) vs. No. 2 Fresno Pacific (8-0, 5-0 GSAC)
Doubles
1. Sandberg/Brodar vs. Joli/Gonzalez FPU 8-3
2. Frank/Bucher vs. Adam/Foelz FPU 8-5
3. Lemke/Iwdal vs. Nicolas Ernst/Silva FPU 9-7
Singles
1. Florian Lemke vs. Fabio Silva VU 6-3, 6-3
2. Fredric Sandberg vs. Vicente Joli FPU 6-2, 6-2
3. Sandro Bucher vs. Alex Gonzales FPU 6-0, 6-1
4. Tino Brodar vs. Maxime Adam VU 6-3, 6-2
5. Thomas Frank vs. Marco Foelz FPU 6-4, 6-4
6. Nils Iwdal vs. Jose Hilla FPU 6-0, 7-5

Final score: VU 2 FPU 7
Season record 6-4  (3-4)