UC Davis men’s tennis wins 7-0 against UC Riverside
The UC Davis men’s tennis team battled it out against Big West Conference rival UC Riverside and swept the Highlanders, 7-0, last Saturday at the Marya Welch Tennis Center. This victory marks the Aggies’ second shutout in conference play and their 18th consecutive win at home, putting them at 15-3 this season.
The Aggies started the match off strong with juniors James Wade and Eli Whittle leading the team in doubles play with a 6-0 set and junior Alec
Adamson and senior Adam Levie clinching the doubles point with a 6-1 set.
After going up 1-0, the Aggies seemed to struggle in the first set of singles play with Wade, senior Brett Bacharach and sophomore Everett Maltby going down 4-6, 2-6, 4-6, respectively. But UC Davis bounced back and went on to sweep UC Riverside in all six of their singles matches.
Junior Bryce McKelvie led UC Davis in singles play, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-0, extending his 16-consecutive winning streak in singles play. Junior Jesse Ross followed suit with a 6-2, 6-4 straight set victory. Adamson pulled through with a 7-6 win in a first set tiebreak, closing out his match 6-1 in the second set.
Wade came back in three sets 4-6, 6-4, 1-0, staying undefeated at 7-0 in singles play this season. Maltby also bounced back and won 4-6, 6-1, 6-3. Finally, Bacharach won his 11th straight singles match 2-6, 7-6, 6-1, completely shutting out the Highlanders.
Head coach Eric Steidlmayer said the team’s main focus going into conference matches has been staying confident in themselves and never underestimating their opponents.
“We’re just always trying to get better and improve,” Steidlmayer said. “I think today’s match was a good learning lesson because this team played well within themselves. It’s mostly about our guys realizing that they’re in for a really competitive dog fight and getting in the right mentality themselves.”
Adamson says he is looking forward to upcoming conference matches and emphasizes the crowd’s impact on keeping their winning streak alive.
“We’re really excited for our trip down to Santa Barbara and Cal Poly,” Adamson said. “We had some really close matches with them last year and it’s always a challenge to play down there and [we’re also looking forward to] our last home match against UC Irvine. We’re trying to get big crowd out for that one. It’d be really cool for people to come out and support.”
With this shutout, UC Davis goes 2-0 in conference play with four more matches before heading into the Big West Conference Tournament. The Aggies travel to face the UC Berkeley Golden Bears on Wednesday, April 13 at 3 p.m.
Written by Nickie Sarmiento – sports@theaggie.org
