The UCSD men’s tennis team, ranked fifth in Division II, suffered two losses in its Northern California road trip against St. Mary’s on April 2 and UC Santa Cruz on April 3. The team lost 5-2 against Division I St. Mary’s and 4-3 against Division III UC Santa Cruz.
In the St. Mary’s matchup, the Tritons lost two of three doubles matches to give the Gaels an early 1-0 lead. At No. 1 doubles, junior Bryan Swatt and senior Amir Nejad lost to Martin Marechal and Andre Scion, 8-4, while senior Jeff Wilson and freshman Seth Spector lost, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles to Rafael Lopez and Adam Fauvre. The lone doubles win was at No. 2, with senior Nick Morton and sophomore Brent Molden squeezing out an 8-3 win over J.J. Whitlinger and Vincent LeBorgne.
UCSD continued to struggle in singles and lost two of five matches, with Molden and Spector snagging a win apiece in straight sets. Molden defeated Lopez, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, and Spector defeated Whitlinger, 6-1, 7-5. Meanwhile, Swatt, Wilson, Novak and Nejad lost their singles matches. This win was the Gaels’ fourth consecutive victory and improved their record to 11-6 overall.
The Tritons hoped to turn things around in the next match, but ran into a red-hot UC Santa Cruz team, which had won six matches in a row. The Banana Slugs are ranked fifth in Division III and are sitting atop the West Region.
UC Santa Cruz swept doubles to take an early 1-0 lead. The Tritons battled back in singles play, but could not get the match-clinching win in their 4-3 loss.
At No. 1 singles, Swatt lost the first set to Brian Casey and staged a comeback to win, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. At No. 3 singles, Wilson defeated Shane Templeman, 6-1, 6-3, and at No. 4, Brent Molden dropped the first set before coming back and winning a three-set battle against Matthew Brunner, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Nejad, Novak and Spector lost their singles matches. This victory improves the Banana Slugs’ record to 20-4.
The two defeats put UCSD at 12-8 overall. Despite their losses, however, the Tritons have been playing solid tennis lately, illustrated by a huge jump in Division II rankings from No. 13 to No. 5. The team played its next match on April 4 against Fresno State. Complete results were unavailable at press time.
