UCSD falls short in Hawaii

The UCSD men’s tennis team fell a game short of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships, losing to Hawaii Pacific University after beating University of Hawaii at Hilo.

Last Friday, hundreds of miles away in Laie, Hawaii, the UCSD men’s tennis team duplicated its female counterparts’ feat of blanking the University of Hawaii at Hilo 5-0 in the first round of the NCAA Division II tournament.

The 20th-ranked Tritons had no trouble with the 11-11 Vulcans, quickly winning five matches to render the other four meaningless.

UCSD started the match off with a doubles sweep, then picked up singles victories from Bryan Swatt and Emil Novak to halt the rest of the singles matches and give the Tritons the quick victory.

In No. 1 doubles action, Sameer Chopra and Swatt combined for an 8-5 win over Hilo’s team of Mario Mendonca and Raul Massa. Jeff Wilson and Everett Schroeter followed suit against Hilo’s No. 2 team of Karl and Staffan Moritz, posting an 8-2 victory.

In No. 3 doubles action, UCSD’s Michael Meyer and Dan Albrecht completed the doubles sweep with a hard-fought 9-8 (7-4) battle over Richard Korneck and Paul Adams to give UCSD a 3-0 advantage.

Swatt then breezed through his match at No. 3 singles, posting a 6-3, 6-0 thrashing of Korneck, and Nova beat Hilo’s No. 6 Staffan Moritz 6-3, 6-4 to give the Tritons the shutout victory.

The next day, UCSD faced a much tougher opponent in sixth-ranked, 13-2 Hawaii Pacific University.

After HPU’s No. 1 doubles team of Mikael Maata and Jan Tripler beat Chopra and Swatt 8-6, UCSD’s Wilson and Schroeter defeated Stefan Pampulov and Karl Sloss 8-2 to tie the match at 1-1. Unfortunately, that would be the only victory for the Tritons, since the HPU team of Blaz Jurjec and Matey Pampulov beat Meyer and Albrecht at No. 3 doubles. Then Jurjec, Matey Pampulov and Jan Tripler all posted straight-set singles victories for Hawaii Pacific to give the Sea Warriors the 5-1 victory.

At No. 2, Jurjec advanced past Meyer 6-4, 6-4; Matey Pampulov beat Swatt 6-3, 6-1; and Tripler posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over Wilson to give Hawaii Pacific the victory and halt the remaining singles matches. In the halted matches, Chopra was locked 3-3 in the third set against HPU’s No. 1 Maata, while, at No. 5, Wilson-Hayden was ahead of Stefan Pampulov 5-2 after losing the first set. Novak was down 0-3 in the third set against Hawaii Pacific’s Sloss at No. 6 singles.

UCSD finished its season 19-4 overall, while Hawaii Pacific improves to 14-2 and advances to the 16-team NCAA National Championships in Kansas City from May 9 to May 12.

Twin tale: UCSD Men’s Doubles Scores

UCSD vs. Hawaii-Hilo

Chopra/Swatt vs. Mendonca/Massa

Final score: 8-5

Wilson/Schroeter vs. K. Moritz/S. Moritz

Final score: 8-2

Meyer/Albrecht vs. Korneck/Adams

Final score: 9-8 (7-4)

UCSD vs. Hawaii Pacific

Chopra/Swatt vs. Maata/Tripler

Final score: 6-8

Wilson/Schroeter vs. S. Pampulov/Sloss