April 18, 2015 Results
RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- The No. 53 UC Davis men's tennis team won eight of the nine matches on the day, including straight-set wins in five of the six singles matches, lifting the visiting Aggies to a 7-0 victory over UC Riverside and a share of their first Big West Conference regular season title on Saturday afternoon at the SRC Tennis Courts.
The win propelled UC Davis to 16-4 overall and an unbeaten 4-0 mark in conference play, setting up a clash with second place UC Irvine (3-1) on Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Anteater Tennis Stadium. A UC Davis win over the Anteaters would give the Aggies the outright Big West title and top seed for next week's conference tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., while a loss splits the crown between the two schools and hands UCI the top seed because of the head-to-head tiebreaker.
UC Davis' 16 wins are the most since the 1992 squad finished 16-3 en route to the NCAA Division II national championship and are tied for third on the Big West single-season list.
With the loss, the Highlanders fell to 3-15 overall and 0-4 in league play.
UC Davis and Riverside split the first two doubles matches of the day, with the Aggie tandem of
Alec Adamson and
Adam Levie cruising to a 6-2 win at the No. 1 position. With the split, the doubles point came down to the No. 3 doubles match, where
Tommy Lam and
James Wade were locked in a battle with Luis Gastao and Sean Robles.
Tied at five, the Aggies' hottest doubles team rallied for the victory, winning the final two points of the match to clinch their fifth consecutive victory, and give their team the 1-0 lead. Lam and Wade improved to 11-3 in duals this season as a doubles team, including a 9-3 mark at the No. 3 spot.
The two teams then shifted gears to singles play, where UC Davis continued to roll, winning five of the first six first sets. Wade struck first to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead, defeating Gastao, 6-1, 6-2, and was followed quickly by
Jesse Ross at No. 6, who defeated Hans Baumstark, 6-4, 6-3, to put the Highlanders' backs against the wall.
That shifted the scene to court one where Adamson, who trailed 5-3 in the second set at one point, bounced back to clinch his match and the overall win for UC Davis, winning four straight points to sink Julian Ruffin, 6-1, 7-5.
Sophomore
Bryce McKelvie followed with a 6-4, 7-5, win over Michael Carella at No. 4, reigning Big West Player of the Week
Everett Maltby, closed out a three-set win over Sean Robles, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and junior
Brett Bacharach ended a marathon day, defeating Cooper Bridge in a pair of tiebreaks, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3).
NCAA MEN'S TENNIS #53 UC Davis (16-4, 4-0) at UC Riverside (3-15, 0-4) April 18, 2015 at Riverside, Calif. (SRC Tennis Courts) #53 UC Davis 7, UC Riverside 0 DOUBLES 1.
Alec Adamson /
Adam Levie (UCD) def. Cooper Bridge/Michael Carella (UCR), 6-2
2. Julian Ruffin/Calvin Ngo (UCR) def.
Brett Bacharach /
Bryce McKelvie (UCD), 6-3
3.
Tommy Lam /
James Wade (UCD) def. Luis Gastao/Sean Robles (UCR), 7-5
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3* SINGLES 1.
Alec Adamson (UCD) def. Julian Ruffin (UCR), 6-1, 7-5
2.
James Wade (UCD) def. Luis Gastao (UCR), 6-1, 6-2
3.
Brett Bacharach (UCD) def. Cooper Bridge (UCR), 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3)
4.
Bryce McKelvie (UCD) def. Michael Carella (UCR), 6-4, 7-5
5.
Everett Maltby (UCD) def. Sean Robles (UCR), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
6.
Jesse Ross (UCD) def. Hans Baumstark (UCR), 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 6, 1*, 4, 5, 3
