The Tritons faced the best in Division II Men’s Tennis at the Invitational hosted by No. 2 nationally ranked West Florida.

    On Thursday, April 5, the No. 19 Tritons went up against hosts West Florida, falling 7–2 to the Argos. UCSD sophomore Max Jiganti came away with two wins in the bout, taking the Tritons’ only victory in the doubles component alongside partner senior Sam Ling. The pair topped the

West Florida duo of Michael Lue and Domenico Sano in a hard-fought 9–7 victory.

    Triton aces Austin West and Devon Sousa suffered an 8–6 loss in the No. 1 doubles contest, to go along with a UCSD 8–4 defeat in the No. 2 doubles match.

    UCSD didn’t fare much better in the singles component, as Jiganti was the only Triton to walk away with a win, besting the Argos’ Elio Latela in three sets at No. 4 singles.

    In the second day of the Invitational, the No. 15 St. Edwards Hilltoppers just narrowly edged the Tritons in a disappointing 5–4 loss.

    In a peculiar repeat of the first day of competition, the Tritons dropped the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches by the same 8–6, 8-4 scores respectively. While Jiganti and Ling defeated St. Edwards’ Adrian Garza and Jonathan Stockdale 8-4 in the No. 3 doubles match. Down 2–1, the Tritons did well to take three singles matches from the higher-ranked Hilltoppers, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.

    A longtime UCSD mainstay, senior Chapman Chan took the No. 1 singles contest 6–1, 6–4, while junior Junya Yoshida and West solidified wins for the Tritons in the No. 2 and No. 3 matches. But UCSD couldn’t hold up as Jiganti, Ling and Luu all lost their individual battles.

    On Saturday, the Tritons ended competition by dropping to perennial powerhouses No. 3 Barry University.

    Last year’s NCAA Division II National Tournament Runners up downed the Tritons 5–1 in the last day of competition.

    The No. 3 duo of Jiganti and Ling remained perfect throughout the invitational, as they took UCSD’s only win throughout the weekend, beating out Barry’s Romain Costamagna and Ollie Lemaitre 8–4.

    No. 1 doubles West and Sousa lost in another disappointing 8-6.

    The Buccaneers took control of the singles matches, taking wins in the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6 singles — all in straight sets — to secure the win.

    The Tritons return to Southern California to round out their regular season. On Thursday, April 12, the Tritons face off against Point Loma Nazarene. On Sunday, April 15, UCSD closes out play with a match against Abilene Christian in Malibu, after which No. 19 UCSD will prepare for the NCAA Division II National Championships.