The UCSD men’s tennis team defeated Cal Poly Pomona 9-0 for the third-straight time in the last regular home match of the season. This home match was also the last for graduating seniors Michael Meyer, Sean Nagel and Doug Hofmann.
“”Today, we knew going in that we beat this team twice before, and this team always gets up for our match so we knew that too and we were ready to play. I was pretty pleased with the effort all the way through,”” said UCSD head coach Eric Steidlmayer.
UCSD men’s tennis captain Meyer donned his white cap and fellow senior and doubles partner Sean Nagel, in his signature high socks, took the Northview Tennis Courts for the last time, playing their final regular season doubles match at UCSD.
Nagel and Meyer, who had been struggling this season in doubles play, finished off their last home match with a win at No. 3 doubles over Tristan Edwards and Andy Chang by a score of 8-5.
“”[Playing with Mike] has been fun. We’ve been good friends for a long time,”” Nagel said.
At No. 1 doubles, Sameer Chopra and Bryan Swatt defeated Andy Roland and Seamus Sullivan 8-3 while at No. 2, Jeff Wilson and Tommy Novak paired up to defeat Nguyen Than and David Nguyen 8-3.
The Tritons continued their strong play by also taking all singles matches from the Broncos. At No. 1, Chopra defeated Andy Roland 6-4, 6-3, and at No. 2, Swatt defeated Nguyen Than 6-2, 6-1. Emil Novak beat Seamus Sullivan 6-2, 6-4 at No. 4, Blake Wilson-Hayden beat Kevin Chen 6-4, 6-4, and Wilson finished off Edwards 6-2, 6-2.
At No. 3, Meyer played his last regular season singles match with his friends and family looking on. He struggled early against Nguyen, dropping the first set 6-7. He continued to play hard and took the second set 6-3 to force a tiebreaker, which Meyer won 10-4.
“”In singles, it was a little bit nostalgic. I was a little nervous with all the family [and friends] down here. And I wasn’t thinking too much about my tactics … but [in the] second set I turned it around and it entered in my head that I didn’t want to lose to [Nguyen] in my last match,”” Meyer said.
With this victory, the Tritons improved their record to 16-4. They will play their next match away against UC Santa Barbara on April 15.
