The Aggies come out on top over Villanova University and UC San Diego on March 2 and 3
By THEO KAYSER — sports@theaggie.org
On March 2, the UC Davis men’s tennis team traveled south to La Jolla, California to play in the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship.
The tournament was played for its 136th time this year as they drew top universities from California and beyond to compete. The weekend consisted of a doubles tournament along with standard one-on-one matchups between universities.
For UC Davis, this meant participation in the tournament by Lucas Bollinger, a third-year economics major, and Kaveh Taheri, a first-year undeclared major. The Aggies faced off against Villanova University and UC San Diego, where UC Davis came out as victors in both of these matches.
UC Davis’ duo of Bollinger and Taheri found early success and advanced to day two before being eliminated. The pair was defeated in the round of 16 by a duo from Bucknell University.
UC Davis squared off against Villanova University on Sunday morning and dominated across the board, sweeping the day 4-0. This came through a victory in the doubles point early in the day, followed by another three consecutive victories in singles matches.
The doubles point was secured through victories in the first two sets, the third set unfinished. The first Aggie victory was won by duo Perry DiGiulio, a first-year undeclared major, and Sam De Vries, a fourth-year communications major. The match was won by a decisive score of 6-1. They were soon followed by Bollinger and Taheri, who secured the tournament point for UC Davis with a 6-2 victory of their own.
The Aggies similarly dominated the singles events, coming away with another sweep. The matches were won by Taheri and Bollinger, who earned their second victories of the day, along with Eduardo Gonzalez, a second-year biochemistry and molecular biology major. All three players won their matches in just two sets, the match played to the best of three.
After dominance on day one, the Aggies were contested slightly more on Monday, March 3 by UC San Diego, though still won the tournament day 4-2. UC San Diego began on top, winning two of three doubles matches to secure the first tournament point. Bollinger and Taheri were the first to finish, taking their set 6-2 before UC San Diego won the following two sets.
The Aggies responded to this early deficit with ferocity in the singles section, winning four of the final five matches to claim victory for the second consecutive day.
Victors for UC Davis in the singles on Monday were Taheri, Bollinger, De Vries and Gonzalez. Taheri continued his impressive tournament, winning his match in two sets yet again. The remaining three Aggies claimed victories in three sets.
This tournament proved to be a strong weekend for the UC Davis Aggies as they had stellar performances across the board. After a successful run at the Pacific Coast Doubles Tournament, the men’s tennis team will be looking to continue their winning streak in future matches as they face off against Eastern Washington University on March 13.
Written By: Theo Kayser — sports@theaggie.org
