The UCSD men’s tennis team hit the road and traveled to
over the weekend, going undefeated in two matches to improve to 5-1 on the
season. Originally scheduled to play four matches, the Tritons settled for only
two wins against No. 15 Abilene Christian and No. 36 Hawaii-Hilo in
Inclement weather and a cancellation caused matches against
and
to be dropped from the program.
Head coach Eric Steidlmayer asked for more from his players,
and the Tritons responded with 6-3 and 7-2 victories. Against Abilene Christian
on Feb. 16, the Tritons came out firing, understanding the importance of
putting together an impressive showing against a nationally ranked opponent. In
doubles, UCSD took two out of three matches to gain the edge before singles
play began. Seniors Eric Rubens and Blake Meister improved to 4-1 at the top
doubles spot with an 8-4 win over Juan Nunez and Ryan Hudson. At the No. 2
doubles position, Abilene Christian evened the match at one apiece when Luke
Hawk and Hutton Jones beat the UCSD duo of junior Kaz Negishi and sophomore
Bijan Moallemi 8-5. In the all-important third doubles match, sophomores Alex
Placek and Chad Becker won a thriller over Brian Joiner and Brett Proctor by a
score of 9-8.
Becker explained that the key to winning tense matches like
that is all about keeping things simple.
“When you’re in a dogfight, basic things like getting your
first serve in and keeping the ball away from the net man on the return are important,”
he said. “Most of the time, the team that can keep their head together during
the most crucial moments wins those close matches. I’m just proud me and Placek were able to
score a huge win on our team.”
Having seized the momentum with the crucial win at No. 3
doubles, the Tritons used the lift to carry them through an exciting and
extremely competitive singles portion. Four of the six matches went the
distance and UCSD won half of the contests to secure the victory.
Steidlmayer was quick to compliment his team on the
important win.
“I’ve really tried to challenge my team in the past few
weeks, and that hard work finally showed up in our match against Abilene
Christian,” he said. “The way our No. 3
doubles team fought to win that tiebreaker was a huge pick-me-up, heading into
the singles. We needed every ounce of
energy for the singles. Winning
3-setters in the way we did really speaks to how well this team can play when
their backs are against the wall.”
At No. 1 singles, Moallemi rebounded from a tough first-set
loss to post a 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Nunez. Number two singles was just as thrilling with
Rubens pulling through over
6-4, 4-6, 7-6. Negishi outlasted Hawk in a three-hour thriller at No. 3, taking
the match 6-7, 6-2, 7-5. Meister was able to keep the team rolling at No. 4
singles, defeating Joey Farias, 7-6, 6-2. Abilene Christian was able to win the
final two singles matches at the fifth and sixth spots, but it was not enough.
Joiner was able to take out sophomore Vince Nguyen in yet another three-set
match at the five spot, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3. Number six singles wasn’t much of a
contest, with UCSD senior Alex Whitmore falling to Brett Proctor 6-0, 6-1.
UCSD next took on Hawaii-Hilo on Feb. 17. The Tritons set
the tone early, winning all three doubles contests in routine fashion, putting
them in control of the match. Rubens and
Meister beat their opponents’ top doubles duo 8-4. In No. 2 doubles, Placek and
Becker took out the Hawaii-Hilo duo of Luiz Gonzaga and Mangal Sriram 8-3. In
the final doubles match, freshmen Armaun Emami and Alex Edstrom continued their
emergence as a doubles team to be reckoned with, scoring an impressive 8-5 win.
Moallemi held down the top singles spot, taking down Laurent
Colombo 6-3, 6-4. Rubens, who has been
battling foot injuries recently, didn’t show any lingering effects during a
6-3, 7-6 win. Negishi was able to pull out another nail-biter at the third
spot, coming from behind for a 3-6, 6-3, (11-9) win. Meister had the quickest
match of the day in singles, getting by Sriram 6-3, 6-0 at the fourth spot.
Once again, UCSD dropped the five and six singles matches, but it didn’t affect
the outcome of the match.
Although Steidlmayer was proud of his team’s effort in
he was quick to point out that there is still a long way to go, and that the
Tritons have a lot of improving to do.
“Obviously, going undefeated when you travel out-of state is
something to be proud of,” he said. “Most of all, I’m proud of the way our guys
fought hard to win the tough ones. Wins
like that are a sign of growth, and we will be able to use the lessons learned
from these taxing matches down the road.”
The Tritons had their home match on Wednesday against
Concordia rained out, but will return to the courts today when they travel to
face Division-I opponent Loyola Marymount.
