THIS WEEK…
#70 UC Davis (9-3) vs. #75 Rice (7-8)
Thursday, March 5, 2015
10 a.m.
San Diego, Calif. -- Skip & Cindy Hogan Tennis Center (University of San Diego)

#70 UC Davis (9-3) at 126th Annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships
March 5-8, 2015
All Day
La Jolla, Calif. -- La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club
Complete Tournament Draws

#70 UC Davis (9-3) vs. Villanova (2-5)
Sunday, March 8, 2015
3 p.m.
San Diego, Calif. - Northview Tennis Courts (UC San Diego)

FIRST SERVE: A busy weekend is in store for the No. 70 UC Davis men's tennis team (9-3 overall), as the Aggies head to Southern California for a pair of dual matches while also participating in the 126th Annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships held at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club in La Jolla, California. UC Davis takes on No. 75 Rice on Thursday (March 5) at 10 a.m., and Villanova on Sunday (March 8) at 3 p.m., sandwiched around their participation in the doubles championships, which begin on Thursday at 2 p.m.

IN THE RANKINGS: While the extended break gave the Aggies a chance to recover following a stretch that saw them play six matches in 10 days, it did not do wonders for their national ranking, which slipped six spots to No. 70 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings after having not played since a doubleheader sweep of Nevada and Sonoma State way back on Feb. 22… Rice jumped back into the rankings at No. 75 after spending back-to-back weeks at the same spot on Jan. 20 and Jan. 28… Villanova is unranked.

UC DAVIS RANKINGS HISTORY: The Aggies debuted with their highest ITA ranking in the program's Division I history back on Feb. 3, entering the national spotlight at No. 72, before making the jump to No. 70 in the nation on Feb. 17 following a three-match sweep of Sacramento State, Saint Mary's and Holy Names. UC Davis continued to climb, posting its highest ranking ever at No. 64 according to the Feb. 25 poll.

NOT YOUR "RANK" AND FILE SCHEDULE: This week's dual with No. 75 Rice will mark the fourth nationally ranked foe for the Aggies in 2015. UC Davis has also had duals with then-No. 30 Stanford (Jan. 13), then-No. 15 California (Jan. 19), and then-No. 52 Santa Clara (Jan. 31) thus far this season, while six Aggie opponents this season overall (California, Stanford, San Francisco, Rice, UC Irvine, Cal Poly) are among the top 75 this week.

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT: Featuring some of the nation's top collegiate doubles teams, as well as a strong field of independent tandems, the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championships is the second oldest tennis event in the United States and were first held in 1890 at The Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, Calif., created to promote the sale of real estate on the Monterey peninsula.

The original concept for the event was to pit the best players from the East against those from the West and served as the inspiration for the present day Davis Cup. Past winners of the event include such luminaries as Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura, Don Budge, Tony Trabert, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Arthur Ashe, Dennis Ralston, and John McEnroe, among many other world-class champions. The event moved to the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club in 1943.

The field features top collegiate tennis players from across the country, as well as a field of independent competitors which include teaching professionals, top junior players, college coaches, and former tour players. The top 16 college doubles teams and the top 16 independent teams are seeded in the same draw, with a total of 119 teams competing for this year's title.

Among those schools competing alongside the Aggies: Boston College, California, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Georgetown, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, Rice, San Diego State, St. John's, Stanford, UCLA, UC San Diego, UNLV, USC, San Diego, Villanova, and William & Mary.

AGGIES OPENING ROUND SCHEDULE: The following are the opening round match-ups for UC Davis teams and student-athletes:

Thursday (March 5)
Alec Adamson / Adam Levie (UC Davis) vs. Yousef Benhamida/Ryan Seggerman, 5:30 p.m.
Jesse Ross (UC Davis) / Max Mereles vs. Andrew Buckner/Jesse Steinberg, 6:30 p.m.

Friday (March 6)
James Wade / Tommy Lam (UC Davis) vs. Nikhil Jayashankar/Hasier Pastor Larrieta (California), 8:45 a.m.
Brett Bacharach / Bryce McKelvie (UC Davis) vs. Billy Grokenberger/Matthew Wagner (Boston College), 8:45 a.m.
Everett Maltby / Eli Whittle (UC Davis) vs. Kevin Grieve/Trent Miller, 10:15 a.m.
Michael Meyer / Toki Sherbakov vs. Henrik Munch/Zachary Yablon (Rice), 10:15 a.m.

ABOUT THE OWLS: Rice enters the week with a 7-8 overall record and 0-2 in Conference USA play, coming off a 6-1 loss at San Diego State on March 3… Freshman Jamie Malik leads the team with a 20-9 overall record and is 8-5 in dual matches this season, mostly at the No. 2 spot in the Owls' lineup… Sophomore David Warren sports a 19-13 overall record this season, leading the team with nine dual match wins out of the No. 5 spot… Junior Gustavo Gonzalez is riding a three-match winning streak, posting a 5-5 dual match record as Rice's No. 6 singles player.

ABOUT THE WILDCATS: Villanova enters the week with a 2-5 overall record, falling to UC Riverside (6-1) in its last contest on March 3, and duals scheduled against UC San Diego and Oklahoma State prior to the start of the doubles tournament… The Wildcats have posted wins over La Salle and Delaware this season, the latter snapped a three-match losing skid… Junior Chris Seitz leads the team with four dual match victories in the early going, with three other players (Bradley Noyes, Tim Abbracciamento, and Matt Phelps) posting a trio of singles victories this spring.

SERIES NOTES: Thursday's meeting with Rice will be the first-ever in men's tennis between the two schools… The Aggies have posted back-to-back 7-0 shutouts of Villanova in each of the last two seasons, both meetings coming after this same doubles championship in La Jolla.

IN A NUTSHELL: UC Davis is off to its best start in its Division I history at 9-3 thanks, in large part, to a six-match winning streak that is tied for the longest in that span. The Aggies have won eight of their last nine overall, with two of its three losses coming against ranked opposition. At the midway point of the spring season, sophomore James Wade and freshman Everett Maltby lead the team on the singles side with 18 victories overall, while Wade is tops on the team with an 8-2 mark in duals thus far. Maltby (7-2), who is currently riding a personal six-match winning streak, sophomore Bryce McKelvie (7-4), and sophomore Jesse Ross (7-3), are all tied for second on the team with seven wins in duals.

BACHARACH NAMED BIG WEST ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Junior Brett Bacharach was named the Big West men's tennis athlete of the week back on Feb. 25, earning the first award of his career and becoming the second Aggie honoree this season, joining teammate James Wade (Jan. 21). Bacharach won both his singles contests against San Francisco and Nevada to extend his winning streak to five straight and improve to 6-2 in duals this year.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUAL: Bacharach enters the week with 32 career wins in dual match play, ranking fourth on the UC Davis list according to available records that date back to the 1996-97 season, standing just six back of Kyle Miller (2011-14), who holds the Aggies' Division I record for dual match wins with 38, and 17 behind Greg Lee, who won 49 dual matches from 2000-03 to hold the top spot. Sophomore James Wade is also closing in on the top 10 with his 27-6 record over his two seasons at UC Davis.

HOME, SWEET HOME: With their wins over Nevada and Sonoma State back on Feb. 22, the Aggies improved to 5-0 on the courts at the Marya Welch Tennis Center this season, extending their home winning streak to six dating back to a 4-3 loss to Hawai'i on April 1, 2014. UC Davis has won 16 of its last 19 at home after posting an 11-3 record in home contests last spring.

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 26-18 (.591) record in such matches to start the 2014-15 campaign. Sophomore James Wade has led the way, thus far, with a perfect 8-0 mark in three-set contests, while classmate Bryce McKelvie is 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: 8-0 (1.000)
Bryce McKelvie: 5-3 (.625)
Eli Whittle: 4-0 (1.000)
Brett Bacharach: 4-1 (.800)
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)

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.