Despite being ending their season in the Big West quarterfinals, Cal Poly men’s tennis walks away from 2025 with plenty to look forward to.
Four Mustangs won All-Big West honors, marking stellar individual performances in both singles and doubles. More importantly, the Mustangs only lose one player, senior Bastiaan Weststrate, to graduation.
Cal Poly entered the 2025 season as an incredibly young team, with their 8-15 record this year serving as a stepping stone for future success.
Weststrate was the team’s veteran and a leader on the court for the sophomores and freshmen that comprised nine of the 11 spots on the roster.
As a result, the team’s close 2-4 loss in the Big West Championships against No. 4 seed UC San Diego is a positive sign for the future of Cal Poly men’s tennis.
Big West Awards
Sophomore Raz Haviv was the only Mustang to earn both singles and doubles All-Big West nods in 2025, securing second team all-conference in both competitions in his second year with the program.
Haviv played at line No. 1 singles for almost the entire year, taking on opponents’ most skilled athletes. He went 3-11 in singles, winning his only completed Big West matchup.
Haviv also was in position to win multiple matches against ranked opponents this season, but his matches were called short when a team clinched victory.
He and partner Weststrate also won Second Team All-Big West in doubles, coming together at line No. 1 late in the season.
Despite the pair’s 3-5 record, they pulled out clutch doubles victories to clinch crucial points for the Mustangs in their final matches of the season.
Weststrate also earned an All-Big West honorable mention in singles for his 8-12 performance at lines No. 1 and No. 2.
He ends his career at Cal Poly as one of the best doubles players the school has seen, earning All-Big West doubles honors every year of his Cal Poly career.
Sophomore Sean Kamyshev and freshman Jack Cross also contributed to Cal Poly’s excellence in doubles this year.
The line No. 2 duo also earned Second Team All-Big West recognition for their dominance late in the season.
Another pair formed halfway through the 2025 campaign, Kamyshev and Cross held down line No. 2 with a 6-2 record, going 3-1 in Big West contests.
Their most recent win came in the Big West Championships against UC San Diego, where they and line No. 3 pair junior Aaron Eliscu and sophomore Wian Roothman clinched the doubles point for the Mustangs.
Cal Poly vs UC San Diego
Kamyshev and Cross took a 6-3 victory at line No. 2 doubles to start off the match against the Tritons.
The two underclassmen have been nearly untouchable since they began playing together in March, quickly becoming one of the team’s premier pairings.
Not to be outshined, Eliscu and Roothman’s match came down to the wire, with the line No. 3 pair pulling out a 7-6 victory to put the Mustangs ahead 1-0.
Eliscu carried his success into singles, where he was the only Mustang to clinch a victory in individual play.
He faced off against UC San Diego’s Charles Qian at line No. 6, eventually winning a three-set 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 battle. Eliscu finishes the season a positive 5-4 in singles and 5-4 with Roothman in doubles.
No other Mustang found as much success in singles, but Kamyshev was also leading in his match 4-6, 6-4, 5-2 when UC San Diego took the overall victory.
Cross and Weststrate also pushed their opponents to three sets before falling to the Triton players, the team’s season coming to an end in a 2-4 defeat.
In a season of ups and downs, Head Coach Nick Carless believes that the Cal Poly roster is just getting started.
“We’ve got such a young team, these guys just need match play,” Carless said. “This season was about growth and having a growth mindset in that process.”
Nine of Cal Poly’s eleven players will return next season, each with an extra year of experience under their belt.
When Cal Poly men’s tennis returns, it will be with a most seasoned roster, ready to put the lessons of this year into practice as the 2026 season looms.
