Last weekend the men’s tennis team showed little rust in its season opener at the Cal Poly Pomona Individual Tourney, sweeping the semifinals in both B competitions to set up all-UCSD showdowns in two of the four tournament finals.
Playing against individuals from Redlands, Cal Lutheran, Cal Tech, Saddleback, Chapman, Azusa Pacific, Cal Poly Pomona and College of the Desert, the Tritons fared impressively in the tournament, sending the majority of their players to the upper rounds.
In men’s singles, UCSD’s Bryan Swatt and Sameer Chopra advanced through three rounds to the quarterfinals for the Tritons, where Chopra defeated Cal Poly Pomona’s David Nguyen 6-4, 6-2. However, Swatt wasn’t able to advance and bowed out to Cal Poly Pomona’s J.R. Villoraman.
UCSD’s doubles teams were effective in the tournament as well, with the teams of Chopra and Swatt and UCSD’s Jeff Wilson and Dan Albrecht easily advancing through the early rounds. However, in the semifinals, the team of Ryan Terry and Andy Roland from Cal Poly Pomona defeated Wilson and Albrecht 8-4.
In the B division of play, UCSD sent six players to the third round, and Tritons Everett Schroeter, Amir Nejad and Blake Wilson-Hayden recorded victories in the quarterfinals.
The B doubles teams of Wilson-Hayden/Nick Morton, Sean Nagel/Emil Novak and Schroeter/Nejad also advanced to the quarterfinals and recorded victories.
In the final day of the three-day tournament, Chopra easily defeated Cal Poly Pomona’s J.R. Villoroman 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the finals to face Jaime Maxwell from College of the Desert. Maxwell proved to be no challenge for Chopra, falling 6-1, 6-4.
In the B singles division, UCSD couldn’t lose, as Tritons Schroeter and Wilson-Hayden won both their semifinal games to face each other in the finals. In each other, the two Tritons found their toughest match of the season, with Schroeter prevailing in three sets 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.
UCSD also swept the B doubles semifinals as well, as Morton/Wilson-Hayden beat teammates Schroeter/Nejad 8-3 while Nagel/Novak fought off College of the Desert’s Kunio Minato/Maxwell 9-8.
In the B doubles competition finals featuring both Triton teams, the team of Nagael/Novak got the best of Morton/Wilson-Hayden, taking the top spot with an 8-5 victory.
The Tritons will next have their home opener Friday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m., when they host College of the Desert. The next day they play host to Cal Poly Pomona Saturday at 1 p.m. Both matches will be played at the North Courts.
