The UCSD men’s tennis team finally ran out of the energy it needed to continue a six-game winning streak, losing for the first time this month to the Division-I Sacramento State Hornets on March 14.
The final score was a tight 5-4 as the Tritons, now 6-7, lost to the Hornets, who improved their record to 5-4. Six of the Tritons’ seven losses are against Division-I teams.
The Tritons had a rough time in their usually strong doubles game, losing 2-1, with their only win coming from the No. 3 pair of sophomores Kazumi Negishi and Eric Rubens, who beat their opponents Hugue Van Dillen and Paul Komoniczak in a close 9-8 victory.
UCSD’s No. 1 doubles team, senior Erik Oijala and sophomore Blake Meister, fell to Junaid Hossain and Gabriel Loredo, 8-3, and the No. 2 team of seniors Brent Molden and Steven Oechel fell to Warwick Foy and Ramon Perez 8-5.
Coach Eric Steidlmayer was not pleased with the intensity of his team’s doubles play against the Hornets.
“Our doubles play left a lot to be desired,” he said. “Our guys haven’t yet realized how important it is for them to be really amped for every point. In doubles, you never know when the point will become important, especially when playing a pro-set. However, we did compete well in singles today against Sac State.”
The Tritons lost in the top three positions of singles play, but their bottom three spots managed to defeat the respective Hornet opponents. UCSD’s victories came from No. 4 Oijala over Van Dillen, No. 5 Negishi over Thomas Morton and No. 6 sophomore Ramesh Thondapu over Komoniczak.
UCSD’s No. 1 Molden couldn’t handle Hossain, losing 6-3, 6-4, while No. 2 Rubens fell to Loredo.
No. 3 Meister battled against Foy with each player winning a game before Foy pulled off a victory in the final game, 6-3, to clinch the match for the Hornets.
Coming off the loss to Sacramento, Steidlmayer was slightly baffled by his team’s performance.
“I wonder if our team settles for mediocrity,” he said. “We had a great previous week, winning five in a row, but our last in the stretch was against Gonzaga, and the intensity just wasn’t the best.”
Earlier this week, on March 12, the Tritons overtook their Division-I opponents, Gonzaga University, in a convincing 8-1 win.
The Tritons allowed their only loss in doubles play by Molden and Oechel, who fell 8-5. However, it was nothing but wins for the rest of the match, as Oijala, Meister, Negishi and Rubens defeated their opponents.
UCSD went 6-0 with perfect singles play against the Bulldogs. Molden and Rubens quickly downed their Bulldog opponents in two sets. However, Meister and Oijala needed extra sets to take care of their competitors as Meister pulled off a 10-2 win in his final game and Oijala fought to earn a 14-12 win in his decisive third game.
In a match on March 15, the Tritons could not keep pace with the Yale Bulldogs, falling 8-1 with the lone win coming from a singles win by Rubens.
“Our schedule is very challenging this year, and one that pushes us to improve each and every time out,” Steidlmayer said. “I hope that all the guys take that challenge head on.”
The Tritons will face their next opponent on April 1, when they challenge Hawaii-Pacific University.
