Cal Poly Men’s Tennis opened up its season with a pair of losses to No. 4 Michigan and Arkansas on Saturday, Jan. 28 and Sunday, Jan. 29 at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Mustangs (0-2) struggled to put up points against the Wolverines (6-0) and Razorbacks (6-1).
Saturday vs. No. 4 Michigan
In the weekend opener on Saturday, the Wolverines proved why they are one of the top teams in the country with a 4-0 sweep of Cal Poly.
In doubles, junior Noah Berry and redshirt junior Colter Smith finished first with a 6-4 loss at the No. 2 spot.
Following them, the top pairing of redshirt junior Joe Leather and sophomore Bastiaan Weststrate fell 6-3. The No. 3 pairing of redshirt juniors Fernando Fonseca and Ben Keyser went unfinished in doubles.
With the Mustangs down 1-0, the teams headed to singles play. No. 3 Smith was no match for Michigan’s Andrew Fenty, losing 6-0, 6-1.
No. 4 Fonseca fell by the same score 6-0, 6-1 at the fourth spot. No. 3 Leather lost 6-1 in the first match, but put up a more competitive match in the 6-4 despite the loss.
Berry, at the No. 1 spot, and freshman Zachary Pellouchoud, who competed at the No. 6 spot, each went unfinished.
Sunday vs. Arkansas
The Mustangs then fell by a score of 4-1 to the Razorbacks on Sunday, with Berry picking up the lone singles win of the weekend.
After the Razorbacks started the day with a win at the No. 2 doubles spot, the duo of Leather and Weststrate picked up a victory at the No.1 court with a score of 6-4.
However, Arkansas ended up capturing the doubles point with a 6-3 win at the No. 3 spot.
The Razorbacks then took a 2-0 lead in the matchup with a win at the No. 5 spot to open up singles play.
Berry, who is No. 55 in the nation in singles, took care of his matchup at the No.1 spot with set scores of 6-2, 7-6 to put the Mustangs on the board.
Arkansas shut down any momentum Cal Poly had, however, clinching the match victory at 4-1 with wins at the No. 2 and No. 6 spots.
Cal Poly will now travel to Utah to take on BYU on Friday, Feb. 3 at 10 a.m.
