The No. 20 UCSD men’s tennis team began the spring quarter off on a great note, winning 7-2 over visiting Gustavus Adolphus on April 1 at the Northview Tennis Courts.
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Although the Division III Gusties are third in the nation, they were no match for the Tritons, who handed them their fifth loss of the season, meanwhile tallying their fifteenth victory and improving to 15-2 overall and 4-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association conference.
The Tritons took command early on, easily taking all three doubles matches. The No. 1 team of junior Sameer Chopra and sophomore Bryan Swatt squared off against Eric Butorac and Kevin Whipple and won 8-5. At No. 2, freshman Tomas Novak and his partner, junior Jeff Wilson, faced Kyle Anderson and Ben Lundell and beat them 8-3. Seniors Mike Meyer and Sean Nagel also beat Adam Morgan and Brett Morse-Karzen 8-3, playing No. 3 doubles to help give the Tritons a 3-0 cushion in the match.
The only losses of the day came at No. 2 singles with Swatt losing 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, to Butorac, ranked No. 7 in the nation, and at No. 4 singles with junior Blake Wilson-Hayden losing to Lundell 6-2, 6-4. Otherwise, the Tritons were in control, easily winning the other four matches. Chopra, playing at No. 1, breezed past Whipple with a score of 6-3, 6-4, while Meyer crushed Anderson with a score of 6-4, 6-1. At No. 5, sophomore Emil Novak edged out Morgan 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, while Wilson dominated Morse-Karzen 6-0, 6-1.
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With this victory over Gustavus Adolphus, the team wraps up their homestand in which they have won six of their seven matches since March. UCSD began its roadtrip on April 2 when it flew to Florida, where the Tritons played in the West Florida Tournament.
“”[The West Florida Tournament is] what we’ve been looking forward to all year,”” said UCSD head coach Eric Steidlmayer before the tournament. “”I think for us, one of our goals is to go to the national tournament and to do that, we’re [going to] have to beat [the top] teams, so this is a great opportunity to prove to ourselves that we can do it … we have three chances and I think if we can beat one of those teams or even if we’re just really close, then we’re going to have a little more confidence coming into the playoffs and having a better chance [there].””
The Tritons played three matches in Florida against the top Division II teams in the nation. They faced off against No. 3 West Florida on April 3, No. 2 BYU Hawaii on April 4 and concluded with No. 9 Armstrong Atlantic on April 5. These teams also boast the top-ranking players in the nation.
The complete results of the West Florida Tournament were not available at press time.
After playing in Florida, the Tritons will play their last home match on April 12 against Cal Poly Pomona.
