La Salle stays unbeaten in men's tennis

La Salle kept its unbeaten slate and top spot with a 3-2 win over Ateneo on Saturday in the UAAP men's tennis tournament at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center. The Green Archers leaned on rookie Ernesto Pantua, Michael Basco, and the tandem of David De Koenigswarter and Juan Fidel Regis to clinch their third straight win in the tournament. Pantua blanked Mark Trinos, 6-0, 6-0, while Basco downed Ayo Canlas, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2, in two of the three singles matches. De Koenigswarter and Regis beat Mark Balce and Jolo Opulencia, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, in the doubles. Ateneo had wins in the third singles and second doubles matches as Julius Lagman rallied from a first-set loss to pull off a 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 decision against Alberto Villamor, and the duo of Andre Banate and Leyan Moncera defeated La Salle’s Ed Louise Amor and Pemrick Alina, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. The Taft-based netters scored identical 5-0 wins against University of the East and University of the Philippines. Defending champion Santo Tomas also remained undefeated following a 5-0 crushing of UE in the other men’s match. Bernan Lou Bering beat Michael Destura, 6-2, 6-0, Kim Saraza thumped Charles Maneja, 6-0, 6-0, and Ryan Montalbo won over Mark Soriano, 6-1, 6-1, in the singles matches. Ralph Kevin Barte and Al Francis Potutan downed Rolex Rivera and Rene Santos, 6-1, 6-1, while Gerald Pinili and Arm Procianos defeated Michael Belen and Prince Orilla, 6-0, 6-1, in the doubles to complete the shutout win. It was the Tigers' second win in the tournament, not including their suspended game against Ateneo last Sunday. Santo Tomas held a 3-1 edge against the Blue Eagles but rain canceled the singles match between Bering and Christian Canlas. The Bering-Canlas match will resume on Sunday after the men's matches of UST against UP and Ateneo against UE at 9 a.m. at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center. – JVP, KY, GMANews.TV