Cal Poly men’s tennis dropped two of three matchups in an eight-team tournament hosted by Arizona State from Friday, Feb. 25 through Sunday, Feb. 27.
Friday vs South Florida
The Mustangs won their first match of the weekend 4-1 against The University of South Florida on Friday, Feb. 25 inside the Kiwanis Tennis Center.
Cal Poly picked up their sixth consecutive victory with the win, while the Bulls (4-5) picked up their second straight loss.
Cal Poly won the doubles point but did not do so easily. The first doubles match to finish featured the No. 3 pairing of sophomores Noah Berry and Fernando Fonseca falling 6-3. This put the Mustangs behind, but they fought back.
In the No. 2 pairing, redshirt sophomore Colter Smith and freshman Bastiaan Weststrate picked up a 6-3 victory. Finally, in the No. 1 spot graduate student Hendrik Inno and redshirt sophomore Joe Leather closed out a close victory 7-5 to secure the doubles point for the Mustangs.
In singles play, the Mustangs fared well in most of their matches.
Fonseca happened to be the only Mustangs to fall in singles matchups, playing out of the No. 4 position. His match was the first to finish and he fell 6-4, 6-2.
Berry was playing in the No. 1 spot once again and came up with a huge three-set victory 6-2, 3-6, 6-0.
Inno, playing out of the No. 6 spot, had the third finish on the day after closing out his opponent 6-4, 7-5 in a very tight match.
Leather secured the victory for the Mustangs out of the No. 2 position with a massive three-set victory, after dropping the first set, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Smith’s match in the No. 3 spot went unfinished, but the score was 3-6, 6-4, 2-5 as the game was in the final of three sets.
In the No. 5 spot, redshirt junior Gary Vardanyan got the nod but his match also went unfinished. His score was 6-2, 5-7, 2-4 when the match was called.
Saturday vs No. 34 Memphis
The Mustangs fell to the No. 34 Memphis Tigers 4-0 on the second day of competition at the ASU 8-Team Tournament on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Arizona.
The Mustangs moved to a 7-2 record and snapped a six-game winning streak with the loss.
In doubles, the Mustangs’ No. 3 pairing of Berry and Fonseca kicked the match off with a 6-2 win. However, the Tigers secured victories at the No. 1 and No. 2 duo spots to secure the doubles point.
In singles, the Tigers extended their lead to 2-0 when Pablo Malea defeated Vardanyan in two sets (6-1, 6-1) at the No. 5 spot.
Then, David Stevenson beat Smith 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 3 spot before Oscar Cutting defeated Berry 6-3, 7-6(5) to give Berry his first loss of the season and the Tigers the 4-0 victory.
Sunday vs UC Santa Barbara
The Mustangs fell in their third match of the tournament 4-1 to Big West rival UCSB.
The Mustangs trotted out the identical lineup to the one that was on the court for their previous two matchups.
This was a non-conference matchup, but was still as competitive as any other Blue-Green rivalry matchup.
The doubles point went to Santa Barbara, even though the Mustangs got out to an early lead. Berry and Fonseca were the first duo off the court winning the No. 3 spot 6-3. However, UCSB rattled off the next two wins as Inno and Leather fell in the No. 1 spot 6-2, followed by the No. 2 pairing of Smith and Weststrate dropping their matchup 6-3.
In singles play, the Mustangs faced a deficit early as Vardanyan fell in the No. 5 spot 6-0, 6-4.
Inno gave the Mustangs their only point of the match, winning his No. 6 matchup 6-4, 6-2.
Berry dropped his match in the No. 1 spot 6-2, 6-4 before Fonseca lost a close match in three sets 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1.
This put the match out of reach for the Mustangs, as the final two matchups went unfinished even though both Leather and Smith were in the third set.
The Mustangs will host BYU next on Saturday, Mar. 5 at noon inside the Mustang Tennis Complex.