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Box Score 2 |
Box Score 3 TEMPE, Ariz. - The LMU men's tennis team made it to the final of the Arizona State Invitational on Sunday before falling to No. 32 Arizona State in the championship match.Â
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The Lions defeated Utah State and Idaho on their way to the final.Â
VS UTAH STATE
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Otico and Pantino earned a 6-4 victory before Ranaivo and Gonzalez claimed the point with a 6-4 victory of their own. Â
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In singles play, the Lions clinched with one court going unfinished.Â
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Emin Torlic was the only straight sets winner, winning a tiebreaker 7-6 before dominating the second set 6-1. Â
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Pantino continued his strong play on court two with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 victory to put the Lions at clinching point. Â
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Otico came through with a 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 come from behind victory to move the Lions into the winners' bracket.Â
VS IDAHO
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Against Idaho, the Lions swept the doubles point with three 7-5 victories. Torlic and
Austin Di Giulio won court one with Otico and Pantino taking court two and Ranaivo and Gonzalez taking court three. Â
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The Lions continued their strong play in singles as well, claiming three more points quickly.
Yassine Smiej took court one in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Â
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Pantino took court two 6-2, 6-3 to continue his strong run of success.Â
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Torlic also played well on court three, notching a point and a donut. He only dropped one set, winning 6-0, 6-1.Â
VS ARIZONA STATE
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The Lions entered the final brimming with confidence but lost to a strong Sun Devils squad. Â
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After dropping the doubles point, the Lions had a lot of ground to make up and unfortunately couldn't make the comeback happen.Â
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Torlic played well on court three, winning an exciting tiebreaker in the first set before the match went unfinished in the second. Â
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Otico similarly won a tiebreaker in the first before the match was retired.Â
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Di Giulio came off the bench to play on court six and was in a tightly contested third set before the match was retired.Â
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The Lions will return to Los Angeles with their heads held high as runners-up of a tough tournament that included the No. 55 ranked New Mexico Lobos and the aforementioned No. 32 Sun Devils. Â
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The Lions host Denver on Friday, March 3 and Boise State on Sunday, March 5 before earning a well-deserved break. Both of those matchups will begin at 11:00 a.m. (PT).Â
