THIS WEEK...
No. 53 UC Davis (15-4, 3-0) at UC Riverside (3-14, 0-3)
Saturday, April 18, 2015
11 a.m.
SRC Tennis Courts (Riverside, Calif.)

No. 53 UC Davis (15-4, 3-0) at UC Irvine (17-12, 2-1)
Sunday, April 19, 2015
11 a.m.
Anteater Tennis Stadium (Irvine, Calif.)

FIRST SERVE: Riding a string of seven consecutive wins against Division I opponents, the UC Davis men's tennis team (15-4 overall, 3-0 in the Big West Conference) heads to Southern California in the hunt for its first-ever Big West title, taking on UC Riverside and UC Irvine to close out the 2015 regular season. The Aggies and Highlanders meet on Saturday (April 18) at 11 a.m. at the SRC Tennis Courts, before UC Davis heads to Orange County to take on the Anteaters on Sunday (April 19) at 11 a.m. at the Anteater Tennis Stadium, in what could be a deciding match for the top seed in next week's conference tournament.

IN THE RANKINGS: UC Davis enters the final weekend of the regular season with its highest-ever national ranking, standing at No. 53 according to the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll released on April 14... UC Riverside and UC Irvine are unranked... The Aggies are 4-2 against nationally ranked squads this season, winning their last four such contests, while having faced seven teams currently ranked in this week's poll: No. 24 Stanford, No. 28 California, No. 50 Cal Poly, No. 54 Rice, No. 55 San Francisco, No. 70 UC Santa Barbara, and No. 75 Loyola Marymount.

UC DAVIS RANKINGS HISTORY: The Aggies made their debut in the Division I national poll back on Jan. 29, 2008, spending one week tied with four other schools (Brown, College of Charleston, Harvard, and San Diego) at No. 75. UC Davis wouldn't reenter the polls until more than seven years later, debuting this season at No. 72 in the Feb. 3, 2015, ITA poll, and the Aggies have been ranked in every week but one since then.

UC Davis in the 2015 ITA NCAA Division I rankings...
Preseason - Not Ranked
Jan. 6 - Not Ranked
Jan. 20 - Not Ranked
Jan. 28 - Not Ranked
Feb. 3 - No. 72
Feb. 10 - No rankings released
Feb. 17 - No. 70
Feb. 24 - No. 64
March 3 - No. 70
March 10 - No. 68
March 17 - No. 68
March 24 - No. 71
March 31 - Not Ranked
April 7 - No. 68
April 14 - No. 53

ABOUT THE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside enters the week with a 3-14 overall record and an 0-3 mark in Big West play, having lost its last four duals dating back to a 4-3 win over Eastern Washington on March 22... UCR's other two wins have come against SIU Edwardsville (4-2) and Villanova (6-1)... In their only match last week, the Highlanders fell to Binghamton by the score of 5-2 on April 9... In its three previous conference contests, Riverside has managed just one point against UC Irvine (7-0), Cal Poly (4-0), and UC Santa Barbara (6-1)... All three of UCR's victories have come at home this season... Junior Julian Ruffin and junior Marcus Vizcarra lead the team with five wins in duals this season at the No. 1 and No. 5 positions, respectively... The No. 1 doubles team of Cooper Bridge and Sina Sharifi share the team lead with two doubles victories this year with teammates Luis Gastao and Sean Robles, who compete at the No. 3 spot in the lineup.

ABOUT THE ANTEATERS: UC Irvine enters the week with a 17-12 overall record and a 2-1 mark in conference play, but the Anteaters have lost their last two duals to Cal Poly (4-2) and Binghamton (4-3)... UCI will take on Hawai'i on Friday (April 17) before facing-off against the Aggies... The Anteaters have lost three of their last four following a run that saw them win 10 consecutive matches from March 8-22 -- three of those via shutouts and three more by 6-1 decisions... UC Irvine is a sparkling 12-3 at home this season, having lost two straight at Anteater Tennis Stadium following six consecutive wins there (UCI has also played home contests at Newport Beach Tennis Club and the Palisades Tennis Club)... Freshman Sebastian Heim leads the team with an 18-7 record in duals and is 21-8 overall on the year... Heim has also teamed with junior Nico Mertens to post an 8-2 mark in doubles this season -- mainly at the No. 3 position.

SERIES NOTES: According to records that date back to the 1996-97 season, UC Davis is 13-5 against UC Riverside, including a 6-1 mark at the Division I level... The Aggies have won their last three against the Highlanders, including a 6-1 victory at home last season... UCR's last win in the series came in 2011 by the score of 5-2 in the Inland Empire... UC Davis and UC Riverside have split their last six matches in Riverside, with the Aggies winning the last meeting, 7-0, on April 20, 2013... In that same time frame, UC Irvine leads the all-time series with UC Davis, 10-2, with the Aggies posting their first-ever wins against the Anteaters last season by the scores of 6-1 and 4-0 -- the latter in the first round of the Big West Tournament... UC Davis has lost all three Division I meetings at Irvine, the first two by 7-0 scores and the last a 4-3 defeat in 2013.

MALTBY NAMED BIG WEST ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: For the third time this season, a UC Davis men's tennis player has earned athlete of the week honors from the Big West Conference, taking home a pair of three-set victories to help lift the Aggies to upset wins over nationally ranked Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara last week. It is the first career honor for Maltby, who joins James Wade (Jan. 21) and Brett Bacharach (Feb. 25) as UC Davis honorees this season. Maltby opened the weekend by defeating Cal Poly's Naveen Beasley, bouncing back from a second-set loss to outlast the Mustang senior, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6. A day later, Matlby topped UCSB's Erik Johnsson, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, to clinch UC Davis' 4-3 win over the Gauchos.

IT ONLY TAKES ONE: A single win this weekend against either the Highlanders or Anteaters gives the Aggies at least a share of their first-ever Big West title, while a 2-0 weekend hands UC Davis the outright crown and top seed heading into next week's conference tournament. Should that happen, the Aggies would become the fourth different school in the last four years to share or win the Big West title, joining Cal Poly (2012), Cal Poly and UC Irvine (2013), and Hawai'i (2014).

FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING: When UC Davis posted its 4-3 win over then-No. 65 UC Santa Barbara last weekend, not only did the Aggies remain unbeaten in Big West play at 3-0, they also won three conference regular season matches for the first time since joining the Big West in the 2007-08 season. UC Davis had won two league contests on just two other occasions in 2010 and 2014. The wins over both the Gauchos and then-No. 49 Cal Poly also marked the first time that the Aggies have defeated those schools in their Division I history.

A SEASON TO REMEMBER: With the possibility of two more victories still hanging in the balance, the 2014-15 campaign has already been one of the most successful in the history of the program. The 15 wins by the Aggies surpassed their total from all of last year (14-11 overall), are tied for the fifth-most all-time on the Big West single-season list, represent a school Division I record for wins in a season, and are the most for UC Davis in a season since the 1993 squad finished 15-3. The Aggies stand just three wins shy of the Big West single-season record for wins, held by the 2011 UC Irvine squad that finished 19-8 overall.

HOME, SWEET HOME: Last weekend's wins over Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara completed a perfect season at home for UC Davis as the Aggies finished 8-0 at the Marya Welch Tennis Center. They will carry a nine-match home winning streak into next season's schedule, having not lost a home contest since a 4-3 defeat at the hands of Hawai'i on April 1, 2014, winning 19 of their last 22 following an 11-3 record last season.

CLOSE SHAVES: Thanks to its 4-3 win over UC Santa Barbara last week, UC Davis improved to 5-1 in matches decided by a single point, including victories in their last three such contests over No. 75 Rice (March 5), Hawai'i (March 26), and the Gauchos. It's quite a reversal of fortune for the Aggies, who were 1-5 in matches decided by a single point a year ago.

BIG WEST'S BEST: Sophomore James Wade (23-9) and freshman Everett Maltby (23-7) enter the weekend leading the Big West Conference with their 23 overall wins this season, while sophomore Bryce McKelvie, who is tied for fourth in the league with a 20-10 record, gives the Aggies three of the league's six 20-match winners this season, joining UC Irvine's trio of Sebastian Heim (21-8), Tyler Pham (20-13), and Nico Mertens (20-14).

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 36-23 (.610) record in such matches during the 2014-15 campaign. Sophomore James Wade has led the way, thus far, with an almost perfect 10-1 mark in three-set contests, while classmate Bryce McKelvie is right behind him with six wins in nine 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: 10-1 (.909)
Bryce McKelvie: 6-3 (.667)
Eli Whittle: 5-1 (.833)
Brett Bacharach: 5-2 (.714)
Everett Maltby: 4-2 (.667)
Jesse Ross: 3-2 (.600)
Alec Adamson: 2-6 (.250)
Tommy Lam: 1-3 (.250)
Adam Levie: 0-3 (.000)

ADAMSON NAMED BIG WEST SCHOLAR-ATHLETE: A member of the Dean's List and a recipient of the John Wooden Scholarship, UC Davis sophomore Alec Adamson was named the Big West Conference Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year from UC Davis. Celebrated at an awards breakfast on Thursday morning (March 12) in conjunction with the conference men's and women's basketball tournaments in Anaheim, Adamson and women's golfer Andrea Wong were honored for their contributions on the court/course as well as their success in the classroom. Read the entire release online at http://www.ucdavisaggies.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/031215aaa.html.

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.

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.