Every good thing must come to an end. For seniors Nic Amaroli, Tyler Lee and Hunter Lee, this was a reality as they played in their final two home contests of their college careers this weekend.
The Aggies’ final home matches started on Picnic Day as UC Davis faced UC Riverside. The Aggies swept through doubles to get up on top 1-0.
Amaroli and Hunter Lee both dominated in their singles matches to put the Aggies ahead 3-0 while Tyler Lee managed a loss.
After Tyler Lee’s loss, Nick Lopez came up with a win in the No. 1 match clinching a UC Davis victory. Lopez would lose the next day, but was the last Aggie to fall against the Anteaters.
“Lopez was great,” coach Lee said. “I give him a lot of credit.”
After taking care of UC Riverside on Saturday, UC Davis knew Sunday’s contest against the No. 51 Anteaters would be tougher.
While the Aggies fell by a score of 7-0, Toki Sherbakov and Connor Coates began the day with an 8-5 win in the No. 3 doubles match to get the team off to a good start. Hunter Lee and Lopez followed with a loss, leaving the doubles point up to Tyler Lee and Amaroli.
In a match that could have gone either way, the Anteaters came up victorious and never looked back.
UC Irvine defeated UC Davis in each of the six singles matches, all of which were in straight sets. Despite the lopsided result, Coach Lee thinks his team is capable of a lot more.
As the Aggies left the court Amaroli reflected back on his four years on the team.
“I’m glad I had the opportunity to do it,” Amaroli said.
Going into the last match of the season, Amaroli has 19 singles victories and 28 doubles victories in his career. It’s still not enough for him, though.
“I wish I could’ve improved a little more,” Amaroli said. “I feel like there’s more [of a future] out there.”
Hunter Lee has won 36 matches as an Aggie while Tyler Lee has claimed 57 victories, 33 in singles and 24 in doubles.
With the Aggies splitting the weekend’s contests their record now stands at 8-11 and 2-3 in Big West play. They finish regular season action on Sunday at Nevada before they go to the conference tournament in Indian Wells, Calif. on April 30.
ZANDER WOLD can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
