Cal Poly Men’s Tennis returned to the Ronca Tennis Center for their penultimate series of conference matches in San Luis Obispo against UC Davis on Friday and UC San Diego on Saturday.
The Mustangs (12-7) staved off a near-comeback from the Aggies to open the homestand in a 4-2 victory, before dominating the scoreboard in the match against the Tritons, 4-1.
Cal Poly’s 12 victories are the most the Mustangs have accumulated since they secured 15 during the 2022 season. The Mustangs concluded the year ranked No. 63 in the nation.
Cal Poly has already beaten out their conference win total from the season prior, in which they accumulated a 2-4 record against Big West opponents.
Currently, the Mustangs are 3-0 in Big West matches with three games left to play. Cal Poly is tied for first place in conference standings with Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara.
Drama against Davis
Cal Poly began the homestand with a dramatic 4-2 victory over UC Davis on Friday.
The dual was defined by the abundance of drawn-out matches; a total number of eight sets between the Mustangs and the Aggies were forced to obtain a victory by winning a seventh game in their respective set.
The increased length of several matches forced the overall dual between the two schools to last over three-and-a-half hours.
Cal Poly opened the match by finding easy success in the doubles matches. Sean Kamyshev and Aaron Eliscu secured a bagel 6-0 victory at the No. 3 spot. Raz Haviv and Sean Ferguson secured the point shortly after, with a 6-2 victory at No. 2.
The Mustangs seemingly began to coast on their doubles’ momentum to begin their singles push. Freshman Jovan Lubbe struck gold early and dropped just one game to his No. 1 counterpart, earning his point in straight sets with 6-0, 6-1 victories to push Cal Poly’s lead to 2-0.
The Aggies, however, formulated a counterattack through a straight sets victory at the No. 4 spot to pull the dual within one point. A medical retirement from Leo Matthysen at No. 6 tied the match at two points apiece.
Playing in his first singles match since March 14., Luc Hoeijmans allowed Cal Poly to retake the lead following his lengthy victory in straight sets, both of which amounted to a 7-5 score at No. 3.
Jack Cross’ victory at the No. 5 line proved to be the clincher. Playing in his first match in nearly three weeks, Cross dropped his first set 4-6, before finding victory in the subsequent pair of sets, 6-2 and 7-5 to secure the only non-straight sets win for the Mustangs in the dual.
“We’re just moving,” Carless said. “We’re getting to be at full strength at the right time and I think we’ll be able to finish off the season strong.”
Sweeping San Diego
The Mustangs closed out the weekend’s homestand against UC San Diego in a dominant victory, beating out their in-conference rivals 4-1 on Saturday.
Cal Poly picked up right where they left off from the afternoon prior and swiftly secured the doubles point. The pairing of Haviv and Ferguson won 6-3 at the No. 2 spot for the first half of the point. Kamyshev and Eliscu slammed it home with a 6-4 victory at the No. 3 line to clinch the point for the Mustangs. Both pairings improved to a 3-1 record on the season.
The doubles point has proven to be one of the most crucial aspects of the game for Cal Poly. The Mustangs have yet to drop a doubles point to a Big West opponent, and remain unbeaten in the conference in doubles matches.
Furthermore, in duals in which the Mustangs were able to clinch the doubles point, Cal Poly holds a record of 8-1.
After taking the doubles point, Cal Poly moved into singles play and sang a similar tune in showcasing strong performances against the Tritons, winning three of the four singles matches.
Ferguson was the first Mustang to finish his respective match, cruising to a 6-0, 6-4 victory at the No. 6 line to double Cal Poly’s lead, 2-0.
Cross became the second consecutive Mustang to find victory in straight sets, besting his opponent 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 to improve to 10-5 on the season.
Lubbe’s match at the No. 1 line proved to be the clincher for the Mustangs. The freshman cruised to a 6-4 first-set victory, but found himself down 5-3 in the second set. In a display of grit, Lubbe won four of the next five games to secure the 7-6 (7-3) victory over his headlining counterpart, as well as to clinch the overall dual win for Cal Poly.
“I feel like this has been the story of my season,” Lubbe said. “I struggled a little bit at first but I just found ways to adjust and ultimately that set me up to bring home the win.”
Having finished the first half of their Big West schedule, Cal Poly will seek to replicate their first-half results and remain unbeaten in conference play.
The Mustangs will play their final two regular season away matches this upcoming week. Cal Poly will open the road trip against UC Riverside on Thursday and conclude the away game stand with UC Irvine on Friday.