F or the 10th straight year, the men’s tennis team earned its way into the postseason, drawing a matchup with No. 5 Hawaii Pacific University in a Division-II West Regional showdown this afternoon. The Tritons finished the season with an oscillating 12-10 mark, but is building momentum as it hits the home stretch. Last year, the Tritons earned a berth in the second round and in 2007 made the program’s first-ever Final Four before losing to Valdosta State University.
Over the last two weeks, UCSD has won four of its last five to gain entrance into the regional as the No. 4 seed. The Tritons’ matchup with the Sea Warriors will take place in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with the victor earning a coveted spot in the NCAA Championships from May 13 to May 16 in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
‘I feel like I’ve been through it all during my four years and through my stories and experiences, I feel I’ve helped the freshman class not make the same mistakes I made,’ said senior Kazumi Negishi, UCSD’s No. 1 singles and doubles player.
Negishi led a unit that battled adversity all season. His experience at the top of the lineup has helped a relatively young unit to an 8-3 record in its last 11 matches.
Hawaii Pacific owns a head-to-head win over UCSD, a 7-2 triumph on March 1 that dropped the Tritons to 4-6 overall. In that match, freshman Jake Fellow was the only player to record a win in singles, earning a victory at the No. 3 spot. In doubles, Negishi teamed up with sophomore Erik Elliot to record UCSD’s only other point at No. 1 doubles. Hawaii Pacific has dominated its last seven matches with a 6-1 record, earning the region’s top seed.
As the team’s captain, Negishi knows UCSD can compete with the Sea Warriors despite the lopsided score that it lost by earlier in the season. However, he knows each individual will need to be better than they were on the first of March and play at the top of his game.
‘Our doubles needs to step it up and play a really clean match,’ he said. ‘If they are able to establish that, we can have a sense of belief in our squad. We barely lost to them earlier in the year while missing two of our of starters, so as a team we know we can compete with them.’
Thursday’s game against the Sea Warriors is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m.
Readers can contact Neil Joshi at [email protected].