UCSD could not clinch a win against Azusa Pacific and dropped their second confrontation of the week against division I opponent University of San Diego.
Over this past weekend, the UCSD men’s tennis team endured some tough losses as they were defeated at home by Azusa Pacific University on Friday night by a close 5–4 score, before suffering a loss the following day against NCAA Division-I opponent University of San Diego with a final match count of 5–2.
The UCSD men’s team dropped to a 1–2 overall record with the pair of losses.
Following a strong 7–2 season opening victory against Point Loma Nazarene University, the Tritons approached Friday’s home opener with high hopes of a back-to-back winning start. Initially, this seemed the case as the Tritons started off the match with a 2–1 set lead after winning two of the three doubles competitions.
Doubles partners seniors Mark Meyer and Kona Luu won the No. 3 doubles with a final score of 8–5, and another senior duo, Axel Bouillin and Rajeev Herekar, won the No. 1 doubles with a close 8–6 victory. However, doubles partners sophomore Alexandre Miaule and junior Horea Porutiu fell to Azusa in the No. 2 slot with a final score of 8–5.
The Tritons started off the singles on a rough patch as Bouillin and freshman Eric Tseng lost their respective No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches, which were best out of three sets, with Azusa taking a 3–2 advantage. Miaule won the No. 6 singles with set scores of 6–4, 1–6 and 6–0, tying things back up between both squads.
Porutiu also came through with a big win as he won the No. 3 singles match with close sets of 6–4, 4–6 and 6–4, pushing the Tritons ahead to reclaim the lead at 4–3.
However, UCSD failed to hold onto the advantage over the next two matches as the Cougars came through with crucial wins in the No. 4 and No. 5 singles, handing the Tritons their first loss of the season.
“That was extremely tough because we know the effort that we put in preparing the last month and the fans coming out,” UCSD head coach Timmer Willing told the UCSD Athletics Department. “They all tried really hard out there; they slipped up a couple of times out there, but they worked to get back. There were no problems with how we played out there today — no problem in effort. It’s just that things didn’t fall our way today.”
UCSD again suffered a grievous loss the following night against crosstown rival USD. The doubles competitions started off on a high note for the Tritons as Bouillin and Herekar won the No. 1 doubles with a solid 6–3 victory. The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles fell to the Toreros with both the matches having a final score of 6–3.
The Tritons advanced to the singles competition behind 2–1 against their Division-I opponents.
The singles didn’t fare too well either for the Tritons as they were only able to win two of the six singles contests. Meyer won the No. 5 singles after a hard-fought game with scores of 7–6, 7–5 and 7–6. Miaule came out victorious in the other contest in the No. 6 singles, winning with final scores of 6–2, 4–6 and 7–6. The rest of the four matches went to the Toreros, dropping UCSD to a losing record.
Next, the blue and gold hope to bring in a win as they travel to Hawaii for three days, taking on Brigham Young University-Hawaii on Friday, University of Hawaii at Hilo on Saturday and Hawaii Pacific University on Sunday.
