THIS WEEK…
MATCH 6: UC Davis (3-2) at No. 52 Santa Clara (3-1)
Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015
Noon
Santa Clara, Calif. -- Degheri Tennis Center

FIRST SERVE: Riding a two match winning streak, the UC Davis men's tennis team (3-2 overall) rolls into the Bay Area this weekend for a clash against Northern California rival Santa Clara on Saturday (Jan. 31) at Noon at the Degheri Tennis Center.

SET YOUR ALARMS: Just a reminder for those fans heading to Santa Clara for Saturday's match. The start time as been adjusted to Noon, instead of the originally scheduled start of 10 a.m.

IN THE RANKINGS: The Broncos will be the third nationally ranked foe in the first six matches of the season for the Aggies, entering Saturday's contest at No. 52 in this week's (Jan. 28) ITA National Poll -- up five spots from the organization's last rankings release. UC Davis is currently scheduled to face two more ranked squads this season: No. 66 Nevada (Feb. 8 at home) and No. 75 Rice (March 5 in La Jolla, California). The Aggies' previously two ranked opponents remain among the nation's best, as Stanford is No. 36 this week (down six spots) while California stands at No. 12 (up three spots).

ABOUT THE BRONCOS: Santa Clara enters the week with a 3-1 record following a 1-1 showing at the ITA Kick-Off Championship… The Broncos posted a 4-2 win over UNC Wilmington in the opener before falling to top-ranked USC, 4-0… Santa Clara is 2-0 at home this season, posting identical 4-0 sweeps over UC Santa Cruz and Sonoma State to start its spring schedule… Junior Ashot Khacharyan, who was ranked No. 122 in the nation according to the Jan. 6 ITA singles rankings, leads the team with a 9-2 overall record and a 2-0 mark in dual match play this season, while pairing with teammate Ilya Osintsev for a 3-1 mark in doubles play.

SERIES NOTES: Dating back to the 1996-97 season, the Aggies are just 1-15 against the Broncos, including a 1-6 mark since making the jump to the Division I level… Santa Clara defeated UC Davis, 4-3, in last year's season opener, and has won six straight since a 4-1 Aggie victory to kick-off the 2008 season… That win was also UC Davis' last victory in Santa Clara.

THE WEST COAST IS THE BEST COAST: Following wins over Pacific and Loyola Marymount, the Aggies carry a three-match winning streak against West Coast Conference opponents into Saturday's contest against Santa Clara, dating back to a 4-2 victory during Valentine's Day weekend over Saint Mary's last season. Following the match against the Broncos, UC Davis has two battles remaining with WCC foes, traveling to Moraga to meet the Gaels on Feb. 15, and a road match at San Francisco, five days later, on Feb. 20.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: UC Davis completed a sweep of its SoCal swing last weekend, bringing home a pair wins against Loyola Marymount (4-3) and Grand Canyon (5-2) in Los Angeles. Sophomore Bryce McKelvie took home two wins in singles, including a marathon three-set win at the No. 3 spot against the host Lions to clinch the win. Sophomore Jesse Ross also added a pair of wins in singles, while the doubles teams of Alec Adamson / Adam Levie and James Wade / Tommy Lam won both their matches on the weekend.

REJUVINATED ON THE ROAD: The Aggies' thrilling win over LMU not only pushed their record to the .500 mark, but ended a seven-match losing skid in true road contests dating back to February of 2014, when they handed Causeway rival Sacramento State a 6-1 defeat on the Hornets' home courts.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE…: And your opponents closer. The Aggies are off to a good start in the "close match" category with their 4-3 win over LMU, just one season after finishing just 1-5 in matches decided by a single point. UC Davis' lone win in such contests last year came on "Senior Day," when senior Kyle Miller posted a straight set victory in the final singles match of the day against Air Force.

(DOUBLES) POINT TAKEN: Sunny Southern California did wonders for the Aggies' doubles teams, who clinched the opening point in each of UC Davis' wins over LMU and Grand Canyon after they had won just one of nine possible doubles matches to that point this season (one of which went unfinished against No. 30 Stanford). Last year, the Aggies took home the first point of the match in 12 of 24 contests (doubles was not played against Nevada due to weather) -- including a run of nine straight from March 2-30.

WHITTLE THEM DOWN: Sophomore transfer Eli Whittle (Brown University) picked up his first dual match singles win as an Aggie in the team's 5-2 victory over Grand Canyon, outlasting Philip Kuehnen, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, at the No. 5 position to close out the contest. It's the first spring for Whittle, who was 7-3 in singles and 2-2 in doubles during the fall as a freshman at Brown, but did not compete for the Bears during their spring campaign.

HE... COULD... GO... ALL... THE... WAY: The Aggies have continued a rather successful trend that saw them post a 44-28 (.611) record in three-set singles contests last season, posting a 23-16 (.590) record in such matches to start the 2014-15 campaign. Sophomore James Wade has led the way, thus far, with a perfect 7-0 mark in three-set contests, while classmate Bryce McKelvie right behind him with five wins in seven chances. Last season, junior Brett Bacharach led all UC Davis players with 14 trips to a decisive third set, finishing with a team-high nine victories.

2014-15 Aggies in Three Sets (sorted by wins):
James Wade: 7-0 (1.000)
Bryce McKelvie: 5-2 (.714)
Eli Whittle: 3-0 (1.000)
Brett Bacharach: 3-1 (.750)
Jesse Ross: 2-2 (.500)
Everett Maltby: 1-2 (.333)
Alec Adamson: 1-3 (.250)
Tommy Lam: 1-3 (.250)
Adam Levie: 0-3 (.000)

LOOKING AHEAD: Following their season-long four-match road trip, the Aggies (finally) return home for four of their next five, beginning with a doubleheader on Feb. 8 against Sonoma State (9:30 a.m.) and Nevada (1:30 p.m.). Already with a win under its best following a 5-2 triumph over Pacific on Jan. 17, UC Davis looks to continue a run of success at the Marya Welch Tennis Center that saw the Aggies finish 11-3 at home in 2014.

RECYCLED NOTES
WADE SHARES FIRST BIG WEST WEEKLY HONOR OF 2015: A stellar start to the spring season has earned UC Davis sophomore James Wade a share of Big West Conference Player of the Week honors, the league office announced on Jan. 21. It is the second career weekly honor for the San Marino, California, native after earning his first on Feb. 19 of last season. He shares this week's honor with UC Irvine's Sebastian Heim. For a complete recap of Wade's award-winning week, read the complete release at: http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/012115aaa.html.

AGGIES AT-A-GLANCE: Fresh off its most successful Division I season in 2013-14, UC Davis returns five letter winners, four regular singles starters, and two of its top doubles teams, from a lineup that helped the Aggies post a 14-11 dual match record last spring, including a quartet of 20-game winners in junior Brett Bacharach (25-11) and sophomores James Wade (28-8), Alec Adamson (22-11), and Bryce McKelvie (20-6). UC Davis earned six spots on the Big West's postseason honor roll as Adamson (first team), Wade (first team), and Kyle Miller (second team), were awarded spots on the singles teams, while Adamson and Adam Levie (first team) and Bacharach and Adam Luba (second team) earned doubles laurels. Four new faces dot the UC Davis roster for 2014-15, as highly-touted freshmen Everett Maltby and Tommy Lam join Division I transfers Jesse Ross (Santa Clara) and Eli Whittle (Brown University).

HEAD COACH Eric Steidlmayer: Entering his third season at the helm of the Aggies, Eric Steidlmayer has marshaled a steady improvement in the win column for the Aggies over the last two seasons, moving up from a 5-15 record in 2011-12 to an 8-13 mark in his first year and last year's 14-11 campaign. Steidlmayer, who was an assistant coach at UC Davis for two seasons from 1997-98 while receiving his master's degree in economics, joined the Aggies in July of 2012 after posting a 182-108 overall record in 14 years as a head coach at UC San Diego, coaching five All-America selections and leading the Tritons to 12 consecutive NCAA Division II postseason appearances, including a national semifinal appearance in 2007 and a 20-0 record during the 2011 regular season.

LESS IS MORE: It may only be a two-man class, but Head Coach Eric Steidlmayer and Assistant Coach Michael Meyer were rewarded with the announcement that UC Davis had brought in one of the top mid-major recruiting classes in the nation over the summer according to the website TennisRecruiting.net. Freshmen Everett Maltby and international standout Tommy Lam garnered the Aggies the No. 17 class in the country -- the second-highest among Big West Conference schools (UC Santa Barbra at No. 15) -- and gave UC Davis its second top-20 class according to the website under Steidlmayer's direction (No. 15 in 2013). Maltby was a four-star recruit by the website, ranked as high as No. 15 in the state of California, No. 16 in the region, and No. 85 nationally, while Hong Kong native Lam was ranked as high as No. 17 in the country in 2012 and was a member of the Hong Kong Boys 16-and-under team that placed ninth at the Junior Davis Cup that year.

"FALL" GUYS: UC Davis capped off the fall portion of its 2014-15 campaign with a number of standout performances, including eight individual singles and doubles titles, and deep bracket runs by the tandem of Alec Adamson and Adam Levie against high-level competition at a pair of prestigious tournaments. Late additions to the lineup, Adamson and Levie advanced all the way to the main draw championship at the annual "Battle in the Bay" Classic, defeating a pair of Pac-12 teams before falling to the USC duo of Nick Crystal and Connor Farren, edged 8-6 in the final. The Aggie duo then duplicated their run of a season ago at the ITA Northwest Regionals, advancing to the main draw semifinals of the event before falling to San Francisco's Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa, 7-6, 4-6, 9-11. Three Aggies finished with double-digit wins during the fall, led by freshman Everett Maltby, who posted an 11-3 mark along with singles and doubles titles at the UCSB Classic. Sophomore Bryce McKelvie finished 10-3, claiming titles at the Aggie Invitational, UCSB Classic (doubles), and Saint Mary's Fall Classic, while sophomore James Wade ended 10-5 with titles at the Aggie Invitational and UCSB Classic.

DOUBLES TROUBLE... AGAIN: Building off of last season's success that saw the pair post a 22-11 mark in doubles play, Alec Adamson and Adam Levie are at it again, winning six of their eight doubles contests together during this past fall season -- including three victories over Pac-12 opponents. Dating back to the 1996-97 season, the tandem's performance last season was one of the best as their 22 victories rank second on the single-season list, trailing only the 24 wins posted by Paul Dilloway and Greg Lee in 2003 (24-6 overall), and the duo stands fourth on the career list as a team behind the record of 51 wins from 2000-03 held by the team of Lee and Yaro Vinogradsky. Individually, Levie's 36 career doubles wins ranks No. 10 on the Aggies' all-time list dating back to the 1996-97 season, while standing eighth on the career dual match list (21 wins) during that same span.