Thamma, Goulak, Scemanenco win titles as men’s tennis wraps up fall season
The last few weeks of the fall season have been quite eventful for the UC Davis men’s tennis team. Multiple players won tournament titles and advanced to final rounds. These performances have led to new successes to celebrate practically every weekend.
The junior-sophomore duo of David Goulak and Ivan Thamma and freshman Alex Scemanco both achieved victories at the St. Mary’s Fall Invite the last weekend of October. Goulak and Thamma won their doubles title after they took down Cal Poly’s Dominic Bechard and Karapet Vardanyan with a score of 8-6. This victory occurred in the tournament’s final top doubles competition, and the win extended the duo’s record to 6-1.
Thamma, the team’s captain, commented on the goals he worked on throughout the fall season.
“I specifically worked on my mental game this fall by trying to keep a positive attitude and finding ways to win even though I’m not playing my best,” Thamma said. “I’ve seen myself bring a better attitude as the season went on, and, by the end, I think I performed my best mentally.”
Scemanco joined his teammates in success by winning a battle in the Men’s B singles matches’ main draw; he took the win in his semi final match versus Louis Chabut of Sacramento State. Though he ended up falling short in the final singles round, he was able to end the day with some victories under his belt.
Sophomore Chethan Swanson and freshman Daniel Landa defeated the reigning 2018 All-Big West Honorable Mention doubles team Roman Shenkiryk and Andrew Whitehouse, and Landa claimed a singles victory.
During the weekend of Nov. 1st, Goulak and Thamma took home the Men’s Open Doubles crown at the Kramer Classic in Rolling Hill Estates. In the third game of the match, the pair broke serve to start out with a 2-1 lead, and they kept hold of the break with an additional hold of serve and second break. This gave the duo a 4-1 lead over the competitors, Igor Karpovets and Herkko Pollanen.
Thamma was able to hold the serve in their final game to seal the opposition’s fate at 8-4. Goulak and Thamma defeated the Arizona team to claim their second title. Their record moved to 9-1 for the fall season, with their only loss recorded at the ITA Northwest Regional in Seattle.
Goulak commented on why the Kramer Classic especially stood out to him as one of the top moments of his season so far.
“[My] favorite moment of the fall would probably have to be winning Jack Kramer because it’s a really big college tournament, and we’ve never played it before, so a lot of top teams around the country come and play it,” Goulak said. “Winning that and representing UC Davis was really nice.”
The team wrapped up its season at the Fresno State Bulldog Classic during the first weekend of November 3-4. Following the tournament’s first day, Scemanenco and Swanson earned their place in the Flight A doubles semifinal against a pair from San Francisco, despite the Aggies’ close loss of 8-7. Sophomore Arjith Jayaraman joined Scemanenco in the consolation semifinal round after coming out victorious in his first consolation match in Flight B in three sets. Scemanenco was granted a walkover in his first consolation match, but neither of the Aggies were able to reach the final rounds.
During the tournament’s extra matches on Nov. 4, both Swanson and Scemanenco went undefeated. Together, the pair enjoyed a 8-3 victory over a Nevada duo. In singles, Swanson won two sets over St. Mary’s Boris Reckow, and Scemanceno brought home the crown in three sets against Patrick Pech of Fresno State.
The men’s tennis team will be back in action in January and hopes to carry its successes into the new year.
Written by: Kennedy Walker — sports@theaggie.org
