The Aggies finally made it home. After the weekend, they might be glad to head straight back for the road.
UC Davis hosted its first two home contests of the season and fell to Loyola Marymount on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday.
The Aggies’ tough luck started in doubles against the Lions. Loyola Marymount got the doubles point after winning two out of three doubles matches. The duo of Nic Amaroli and Tyler Lee was the only Aggie doubles team to win, the only victory of the day.
When it came to singles play, the Aggies knew they would have a tough time as usual No. 1 singles player, Nick Lopez, was not going to participate.
With Lopez out, freshman Toki Sherbakov was promoted to the No. 1 match. He was not able to out duel Ivan Lopez, though, as he lost in two sets. Coach Daryl Lee thinks regardless of the outcome, Sherbakov stepped up for the team.
“Toki did a nice job of doing his best,” Lee said. “He showed some true leadership.”
Freshman success seemed to be a theme for the Aggies this year coming into the weekend. Fellow freshman Connor Coates had not lost a match coming into Friday’s contest.
Coates took part in the No. 5 singles match against Johan Berhof. After quickly losing the first set, 6-2, Coates came back and won the second set 6-1. Coates was barely edged out in the tie-breaking set 12-10, resulting in his first loss of the season. He also lost on Saturday to Jacob Hartwig of San Francisco in the No. 6 match.
“[Coates] had a lot of success leading into this weekend, but he played tougher players,” Lee said. “This is an opportunity for him to get better.”
After Coates lost, there were only two singles matches still taking place. One of those was the No. 2 match with sophomore Chris Aria. Aria lost to Loyola Marymount’s Borja Malet in two close sets.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Aria said. “[Loyola Marymount] was hungry for a win.”
After Aria’s loss, the Lions sealed the victory as they were leading 6-0 However, Tyler Lee played on in the No. 4 match.
After the first two sets were split, the third set was a nail-biter. Lee was defeated in the end though losing 11-9 in the third set, wrapping up the 7-0 victory for the Lions.
Despite Tyler Lee’s loss, coach Lee still believed Tyler played even better than he did during his victory over the Dons on Saturday.
“I give credit to Tyler,” coach Lee said. “He did a good job of having a business-like approach.”
The Aggies were much more impressive on Saturday against the Dons starting off well by winning two of three matches including an impressive win for Nick Lopez and Hunter Lee.
Tyler Lee and Sherbakov also picked up singles wins, but the Aggies fell 4-3.
After the two losses this weekend, the Aggies are now 4-5 overall this season. UC Davis now heads back on the road and will face UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly next weekend.
ZANDER WOLD can be reached at sports@theaggie.com.
