Cal Poly Men’s Tennis kicked off their final road trip of the regular season with a 4-1 victory over UC Riverside to remain unbeaten in Big West play.
With the win, the Mustangs (13-7, 4-0 Big West) extended their current winning streak to four consecutive games and added to their now 21-game winning streak over the Highlanders, dating back to 2009.
The Mustangs continue to cement their spot atop the Big West, remaining tied for first place in the conference with Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara, who have won their last seven matches.
Rolling in Riverside
Cal Poly began the dual in similar fashion to their prior Big West matchups; capturing the doubles point.
The doubles pair of Sean Ferguson and Raz Haviv cruised to a 6-1 victory at the No. 2 line to begin the afternoon for the Mustangs. The coupling of Aaron Eliscu and Sean Kamyshev secured the point for Cal Poly with a 6-3 victory over their No. 3 counterparts to give Cal Poly the early lead.
With the victories, both pairings are 4-1 together on the season.
The Mustangs continued to build upon their doubles momentum in singles play, taking three of the next four matches.
Freshman Jovan Lubbe continued his dominant run in singles play, securing a straight sets, bagel 6-0, 6-0 victory at the headlining seed of the dual, extending his win streak to four games and improving to a 12-6 record on the year.
In his first collegiate season, Lubbe has solidified himself at the top of the Mustangs’ singles roster. He has yet to lose in a conference match and secured each victory in straight sets.
Ferguson put Cal Poly within one point of victory after following in Lubbe’s footsteps, earning a 6-1, 6-0 straight sets victory at the No. 6 spot of the dual.
Having only played in six singles matches throughout the course of the season, Ferguson has taken the victory in five of them, and boasts a 3-0 record in Big West play. Like Lubbe, Ferguson has taken all of his victories in straight sets.
Following a Mustang loss at the No. 4 spot to grant the Highlanders a spot on the scoreboard, Eliscu secured his first win in the month of April, 6-2, 7-5 to clinch the duals victory for the Mustangs.
With the victory, Eliscu improved to 11-5 on the season and holds the second-most number of wins for the Mustangs on the year. Eliscu is 2-1 within the conference, with one unfinished match under his belt.
The Final Countdown
With just two matches remaining on their regular season schedule, Cal Poly will look to conclude their season in a strong fashion.
The Mustangs will close out their final road trip of the regular season on Friday, April 10, when Cal Poly will face arguably their most difficult in-conference opponent yet in third-place UC Irvine. The Anteaters are the reigning Big West Champions, having bested UC Santa Barbara 4-3 in last year’s Big West Championships.
Cal Poly has lost five consecutive matches to UC Irvine, dating back to the 2022 season. The Mustangs will seek to rectify their streak in their final road match of 2026.