THIS WEEK…
Sacramento State (2-1) at UC Davis (4-2)
Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015
Noon
Davis, Calif. -- Marya Welch Tennis Center

UC Davis (4-2) at Saint Mary's (1-5)
Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015
Noon
Moraga, Calif. -- Timothy Korth Tennis Complex

Holy Names (0-0) at UC Davis (4-2)
Monday, Feb. 16, 2015
2:00 p.m.
Davis, Calif. -- Marya Welch Tennis Center

FIRST SERVE: Thanks to Mother Nature, the No. 72-ranked UC Davis men's tennis team finally returns to the courts following a two-week break with a busy stretch of duals over the President's Day weekend, hosting Causeway rival Sacramento State and Holy Names around a road match at Saint Mary's. The Aggies and Hornets meet on Valentine's Day at Noon, followed by a trip to Moraga, California, on Sunday (Feb. 15) for Noon start against the Gaels. UC Davis then wraps up the weekend against the Hawks on Monday (Feb. 16) at 2 p.m.

CHECK YOUR CALENDARS: Due to court conflicts at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex, Sunday's match at Saint Mary's has been moved up to a Noon start time in Moraga from its originally scheduled 1 p.m. start. Thanks to the rains that postponed matches against Nevada and Sonoma State on Feb. 8, the Aggies will now face the Wolf Pack and Seawolves in a doubleheader on Feb. 22 at the Marya Welch Tennis Center starting at 10:30 a.m.

IN THE RANKINGS: The No. 72 ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association is the highest-ever in the Aggies' Division I history after the program spent a week tied with four other schools (Brown, College of Charleston, Harvard, and San Diego) at No. 75 on Jan. 29, 2008… Sacramento State and Saint Mary's are unranked, while Holy Names stands at No. 7 in the Division II West Region polls.

ABOUT THE HORNETS: Causeway rival Sacramento State enters the weekend with a 2-1 record following a 4-1 victory over Cal Poly at home… Both of the Hornets' wins this season have come against Big West opposition as they opened their spring schedule with a 5-2 victory over UC Riverside before falling to Loyola Marymount, 7-0… Junior Niranjan Ram is 2-1 overall on the young season at the No. 2 spot in the lineup for Sacramento State, while the duo of junior Sean Kolar and senior Marek Marksoo have won two of their three doubles contests at the No. 1 spot this season.

ABOUT THE GAELS: Saint Mary's has stumbled out of the blocks to start the 2015 spring campaign, entering the weekend with a 1-5 record following a 7-0 loss to No. 10 UCLA on Feb. 8… The Gaels' lone win this season has come in a 6-1 win over Sonoma State back on Feb. 1, with losses to Fresno State (5-2), Cal Poly (6-1), Weber State (6-1), and West Coast Conference rival BYU (4-3)… The Aggies will be the second straight nationally ranked opponent for Saint Mary's, which is scheduled to face No. 13 California, No. 49 Indiana, and No. 62 Washington, immediately following its match against UC Davis… Four Gaels have recorded a pair of singles dual wins this season, including No. 1 Arthur Weber, who is 2-3 at the top spot in the lineup… the duo of Samuel Bloore and Jacob Lagman are 3-1 as doubles partners, splitting time between the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.

ABOUT THE HAWKS: Monday's match with the Aggies will turn out to be the season opener for Division II Holy Names, which had its originally scheduled season opener at Fresno State cancelled due to rain… The Hawks finished 7-13 overall last season and return nine members off of last season's squad… Matthew Halligan is ranked No. 12 in the Division II West Region singles poll, with senior teammate Rafael Martinez standing No. 17… Brook Workeneh, who led the Hawks with 11 singles wins last season, and Halligan were third-team All-PacWest in doubles last season.

SERIES RECORDS: According to records that date back to the 1996-97 season, the Aggies are just 5-14 against the Hornets, including a 1-6 mark since jumping to Division I in 2008… That first Division I win came last season in Sacramento by the score of 6-1, snapping a seven-match losing streak overall against Sacramento State dating back to 2006… UC Davis is just 1-9 in that same span against Saint Mary's, including a 1-6 record at the Division I level, following a 4-2 win over the Gaels last season at home… The Aggies are 1-0 at the Division I level against Holy Names, winning 6-1 last season in Davis.

THE START OF SOMETHING BIG?: This weekend's three opponents were part of a four-game winning streak last season for the Aggies that started with a 6-1 victory over Big West rival UC Riverside following an 0-4 start to the spring schedule. Following their 6-1 win over the Hornets on the road, the Aggies reeled off seven wins in their next nine dual matches, including a season-best six-match winning streak -- their longest at the Division I level -- en route to a 14-11 overall record.

THE (TWO) WEEK(S) (AGO) THAT WAS: Competing against his former school for the first time, sophomore Jesse Ross clinched the Aggies' third consecutive win in the team's last outing on Jan. 31, defeating Santa Clara's Sebastien Mathieu by the score of 6-3, 7-5, to help nail down a 4-3 win over the nationally ranked Broncos. Ross, freshman Everett Maltby, and junior Brett Bacharach, all posted wins at the bottom of the singles ladder to clinch the victory, one that was decided early after Ross secured his fourth dual match win of the year and UC Davis had jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the match overall with the wins by Maltby and Bacharach.

HOME, SWEET HOME: Saturday marks only the second match for the Aggies on the courts of the Marya Welch Tennis Center this spring, and the first since handing former conference rival Pacific a 5-2 defeat back on Jan. 17. Home court advantage was definitely key to UC Davis' success last season after the Aggies finished 11-3 in home matches during the 2014 spring season.

START ME UP: The Aggies' 4-2 start through their first six matches is the best at the Division I level since the 2009-10 UC Davis squad came out firing with the same record. The Aggies also started with four wins in their first six matches in their first full Division I season in 2007-08.

"THE ONE WHERE ROSS WINS": They may be "Friends" off the court, but sophomore Jesse Ross was all business against his former school in the Aggies' last outing. Thanks to his clinching victory against the Broncos, Ross extended his personal winning streak to three straight contests and improved to a team-best 4-2 in dual matches this season -- all in straight sets. Ross became the fourth Aggie to post double-digit wins overall this season, moving to 10-7 on the year, while playing at three different spots in the UC Davis singles lineup.

THE WEST COAST IS THE BEST COAST: Thanks to their win over Santa Clara, the Aggies improved to a perfect 3-0 and extended their winning streak to four straight matches against West Coast Conference opponents dating back to Valentine's Day weekend last season (a 4-2 win over Saint Mary's). UC Davis has two more chances to extend both streaks later this year, traveling to Moraga to take on the Gaels this weekend, and a road match at San Francisco, five days later, on Feb. 20.

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 No. 52 Santa Clara, improving to 2-0 this season in matches decided by a single point just one season after finishing just 1-5 in that same category. UC Davis' lone win in such contests last year came on "Senior Day," when (fittingly) senior Kyle Miller posted a straight set victory in the final singles match of the day against Air Force.

(DOUBLES) POINT TAKEN: Make it three-in-a-row for the UC Davis doubles teams, which clinched the doubles point for the third straight contest in its 4-3 win over No. 52 Santa Clara. The Aggies, who also clinched the opening point in each of their wins over LMU and Grand Canyon, had won just one of nine possible doubles matches prior to their trip to Southern California for matches against LMU and Grand Canyon (one of which went unfinished against No. 30 Stanford), but have now won seven of nine (with one unfinished against Santa Clara). 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.

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 23-18 (.561) 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 eight 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: 5-3 (.625)
Eli Whittle: 3-0 (1.000)
Brett Bacharach: 3-1 (.750)
Jesse Ross: 2-2 (.500)
Everett Maltby: 1-2 (.333)
Alec Adamson: 1-4 (.200)
Tommy Lam: 1-3 (.250)
Adam Levie: 0-3 (.000)