Women’s rowing
Miami overtook UC Davis for fourth-place midway during Sunday morning’s petite final of the Jessop-Whittier Cup at the San Diego Crew Classic, beating the Aggie women’s varsity eight crew for the final position at the prestigious regatta.
UC Davis, which faced its toughest competition of the season over the two-day regatta, was timed in 7:12.60 – five seconds behind the Hurricanes. Thirteenth-ranked UCLA won the race in 6:52.20.
The Aggies were sixth in their high-powered preliminary race on Saturday and looked to gain more valuable experience with a strong showing on Sunday. UC Davis got off to a solid start, moving into fourth place at the 500-meter mark, a little more than four seconds behind leader UCLA.
The weekend provided an opportunity for UC Davis to go head-to-head with some of the top varsity eight crews in the country. The Aggies were moved up to the invitational varsity eight class after winning the Cal Cup Championship each of the past two seasons.
Besides UCLA, the Whittier-Jessop Cup featured No. 4 Washington, No. 6 Michigan, No. 11 USC, No. 12 Washington State, No. 15 Wisconsin and No. 18 Oregon State. All but UCLA and Oregon State participated in last year’s NCAA Championships.
On Saturday, the Aggies‘ novice eight captured the petite final, holding off Kansas State for the title.
The rowing remains tough for UC Davis, which will host California at the Port of Sacramento on Saturday. The Golden Bears‘ varsity eight is currently ranked No. 3 nationally after receiving a first-place vote.
Men’s tennis
The UC Davis men’s tennis team picked up a Big West Conference victory Saturday by edging UC Riverside, 4-3, at the Student Recreation Center Tennis Complex. UC Davis (3-12, 1-3 Big West) lost the doubles point, but rallied for four wins in singles.
The Highlanders began the match by winning the tightly contested doubles point. Michael Conroy and Raineir Matias were the first to win after an 8-6 victory at No. 3 against Josh Albert and Nic Amaroli.
It took tiebreakers to decide the remaining two matches, and UCR clinched the opening point when Yi Chai and John Park outlasted Tyler Lee and Michael Reiser at No. 2, 9-8 (5). Hunter Lee and Nick Lopez won their match at No. 1, 9-8 (4), over Quoc Doan and Felix Macherez.
Reiser helped the Aggies even the score at 1-1 when he defeated Park, 6-0, 6-3, at No. 2. UC Davis took a 2-1 lead on a straight sets victory by Tyler Lee at No. 5. The cushion became 3-1 as Hunter Lee defeated Doan at No. 3, 6-4, 6-1.
The Highlanders pulled within 3-2 on a win at No. 1 by Macherez, but the Aggies clinched the win with Amaroli’s victory at No. 6. The Aggie junior was leading Chai, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 2-0 before Chai retired due to an injury.
Aggie Digest is compiled by the California Aggie sports staff with briefs from the UC Davis athletics website, ucdavisaggies.com.
