Who: UC Davis vs. UC Santa Cruz; Nevada; Swarthmore
Records: Aggies, 1-7 (0-2); Banana Slugs, 3-3 (2-1); Wolf Pack, 3-1 (0-0); Phoenix, 1-0 (0-0)
Where: Marya Welch Tennis Center
When: Saturday at 1 p.m.; Sunday at noon; Monday at 2 p.m.
Who to watch: Leading the UC Davis men’s tennis team in doubles victories this season has been freshman Josh Albert.
The civil engineering major out of Manhattan Beach, Calif. has a 4-4 record in doubles play so far in this season.
Albert has teamed up with teammates Tyler Lee and Kevin Liang to post a pair of 2-2 records.
Did you know? The first opponent of the weekend, UC Santa Cruz, has won six NCAA National Championships in the past 10 years under coach Bob Hansen.
Hansen was the founder of the Slug Tennis program and has been coaching for 27 years, producing 101 All-American selections during his tenure.
Preview: The Aggies are slated to play some difficult tennis this weekend.
The Banana Slugs kick off their March schedule with a road match against UC Davis this Saturday. Senior Max Liberty-Point, who Hansen calls a “remarkable athlete,“ will start in the No. 1 singles spot for the Slugs.
Opposing him for the Aggies will be either sophomore Nick Lopez or senior Michael Reiser. The duo has combined for a 2-6 record at No. 1.
After facing the Slugs, the Aggies will have to deal with a foreign Wolf Pack.
Only two players for Nevada are from the United States. The rest are from European countries – including Mauritius, an island off the coast of Madagascar.
The Wolf Pack, despite their nickname, plays much better in singles than in doubles, posting 34-27 (.557) singles record compared to a 7-14 (.333) doubles clip.
The Aggies may be able to capitalize there as they have twice as many doubles victories as the Wolf Pack.
UC Davis will then close out its three-game set against Swarthmore.
With only one game under its belt, Swarthmore will look to gain its footing against an Aggies team in the midst of a six-game slide.
– Matt Miller
