The UCSD men’s tennis team had an eventful and successful three-day span of matches from March 5 to March 7, finishing each day with big-time 6-3 wins against Claremont McKenna College, Rollins College and Division-I Boston College at home. After a rough opening to the season in which they lost six straight matchups, the No. 14 Tritons, led by coach Eric Steidlmayer, improved to a 4-6 record following the 3-0 series, including their first win over a D-I school in six tries this season.
Senior Erik Oijala was a big factor in the Tritons’ 6-3 win over Division-I opponent Boston College, winning his singles match over the Eagles’ Brian Hartness, 6-0, 6-1, on March 7.
In singles action against Boston College on March 7, No. 1 senior Brent Molden fell to the Eagles’ Soma Kesthely 3-6, 4-6. However, UCSD’s No. 2 sophomore Eric Rubens defeated Jason Sechrist, No. 3 sophomore Blake Meister beat Alex Rastorgouerv, No. 4 senior Erik Oijala overcame opponent Brian Hartness and No. 5 sophomore Kazumi Negishi defeated Zach Wolfe. The Eagles’ Mike Reiser outplayed sophomore Ramesh Thondapu in the last singles match for a 4-2 lead after singles play.
Just as in the individual competition, UCSD’s No. 1 pair, made up of Oijala and Meister, could not match the dynamic duo of Boston College’s Kesthely and Sechrist and fell 5-8. However, mirroring their comeback in singles play, the Tritons’ No. 2 and No. 3 pairs came through after the top duo could not. No. 2 duo Molden and Steven Oechal defeated their opponents, 8-4, while the Tritons’ No. 3 pair of Rubens and Negishi also came out on top 8-2. UCSD’s quality play gave the team a 2-1 lead in doubles and a 6-3 win for the day.
Oijala attributes the Tritons’ recent win streak to the team’s training.
“We completely changed our mentality in practice, bringing a lot more energy and focus, which has carried over to our matches,” Oijala said. “Also, everyone has displayed a tremendous amount of energy and work ethic and that has been the crux of our recent success.”
This year’s roster has nine underclassmen, three of whom compete, making their performance crucial for the team’s success.
“Our younger guys are realizing what they need to do to win, and realizing that they can win even against good schools,” Oijala said.
The day before the victory over Boston College, on March 6, UCSD defeated the No. 8 team in Division II, Rollins College of Florida. The match included intense singles action from Meister, who went back and forth with his opponent David Tafur 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 to finally win the match, 3-2. Rubens and Negishi defeated their singles opponents as well.
UCSD won all of its doubles games against Rollins College, with Oijala and Meister contesting the Tars’ Carlos Custudio and Tafur to win the match 9-7. Also, Molden and Oechal joined forces to beat Johnathan Gomez and Brian Compton 8-5.
In the first match of this 10-game homestand, the Tritons defeated Southern California’s Claremont McKenna College, winning two doubles matches and four singles matches.
Molden trounced his opponent Jack DePaolo in an easy 6-1, 6-2 win. Rubens defeated Eric Chow, Oijala overtook Guillame Schil and Negishi beat David Oehm.
The Triton’s two doubles wins came from Oijala and Meister with an 8-4 victory and Molden and Oechal with a tight 9-7 triumph.
The Tritons will look to continue their undefeated homestand against Fresno-Pacific on March 9 and Gonzaga University on March 12.
