According to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s end-of-season poll, UCSD finished the year No. 3 in the region — behind Brigham Young University – Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific University — and faced a potential encounter with No. 2 seed BYU – Hawaii.
However, any definitive strides towards postseason play for the Tritons hinged on the NCAA Selection Committee’s April 28 announcement of the region’s official seeds, at which point the Tritons’ postseason opponents would be revealed.
Prior to the announcement, Nguyen said the team was focusing more on their improving their own game than worrying about their potential opponents.
“We just have to get everyone prepared to play, and we really aren’t expecting anything weird to happen,” Nguyen said.
On April 28, speculation was confirmed, as UCSD was paired against BYU-Hawaii in the No. 2 vs. No. 3 seed match up. The meeting will mark the third time this year the squads will lock horns, and the Tritons will hope to reverse their losing fortunes against their Hawaiian counterparts. On Feb. 12, the Tritons fell 5-4 to the Seasiders at the Paseo Tournament, and lost 7-2 on March 24 in Laie, Hawaii.
However, UCSD will be buoyed by past postseason success against BYU-Hawaii, whom they swept 5-0 in the West Regional in 2008. Nguyen added that the Tritons are much improved since the last time the two teams crossed paths.
“We’ve improved since then, but so have they,” Nguyen said. “This will be a different match, and anything can happen on any given day. We are just going to control what we can and hope that everyone performs well that day.”
The UCSD men’s tennis team had hoped to use their season-ending April 21 road match against Division-I, non-conference opponent UC Riverside as a chance to perfect their form and technique heading into playoffs. That chance never materialized.
The match, originally scheduled to take place in February, was postponed due to rainy conditions and rescheduled for late April as a prelude to the postseason for both squads. However, the Tritons again saw foul weather upset their final match, and were forced to return the practice courts without any in-match training against the Highlanders.
Despite being denied valuable late-season match-play experience, junior captain Vince Nguyen said the team managed to make productive use of the newly-inherited, extra practice time.
“[The weather] cleared up in San Diego, so we went to practice,” Nguyen said. “We did a lot of conditioning and prepared for our singles and doubles.”
With under a week before the Tritons depart for Hawaii, Nguyen said the team has a special plan for getting into the right mentality heading into the post season.
“We’re planning on having an inter-squad match … and that usually gets us fired up because we’re playing each other,” Nguyen said. “We trash-talk each other and try to get everyone fired up to go to Hawaii.”
The Tritons will face the No. 2 Seasiders, who finished with an 18-3 regular season record, in the NCAA Western Regional on May 6 in Laie, Hawaii.
Readers can contact Tyler Nelson at [email protected].
