Results

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- After a battle that saw the match come down to the final singles contest of the day during the regular season, third-seeded UC Davis and second-seeded Cal Poly nearly duplicated the effort on Thursday afternoon in the Big West Conference Tournament semifinals, with the No. 68 Mustangs edging the No. 70 Aggies, 4-2, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

UC Davis ends its season in the semifinal round of the conference tournament for the third consecutive year, but wraps up a campaign that saw the Aggies set a new Division I standard for victories at 17-7 overall -- the most for the program in a quarter century (18-5 in 1991).

Cal Poly, which defeated UC Davis by the score of 4-3 on April 16 in San Luis Obispo, Calif., improved to 14-9 overall and set up a meeting with top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the Big West championship match on Saturday morning (April 30).

In a contest that lasted three hours, the Mustangs jumped out to the early lead, claiming the doubles point with a win at the top spot as Ben Donovan and Corey Pang out-lasted Alec Adamson and Adam Levie, 6-4. After falling at No. 2, the Aggies evened things up with a win at No. 3 as Tommy Lam and Bryce McKelvie posted a 6-3 win over Dan Cardiff and Karl Enander.

The scene then switched to singles, where four of the six contests would go to three sets as the two programs slugged it out once again. Junior Bryce McKelvie pulled UC Davis even with a straight-set victory over Josh Ortlip, 6-2, 6-3, in a rematch of the singles contest that decided the regular season meeting between the two teams earlier in the season.

Cal Poly responded to regain the lead with a win at No. 3 before the two teams settled in for a marathon finish at the other four spots. Sophomore Everett Maltby tied things up once again with a win at No. 5, taking down Axel Damiens, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, to make it 2-2, but the Mustangs pushed the Aggies to the brink with a win at No. 6 with Sreyas Kolachalam holding off a hard-charging Tommy Lam, who responded with a 6-3 second-set win after being shutout in the opener, before falling 7-5 in the third.

That moved the focus to the remaining matches at No. 1 and No. 2 with the contest hanging in the balance. Donovan and Adamson were locked in a tight third set, with Donovan leading, 6-5, after Adamson rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie things up at 5-5, but the match would be decided at No. 2 as Garrett Auproux would edge James Wade, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-5, to give the Mustangs the win after Wade held a 5-4 lead in the final set.

NCAA MEN'S TENNIS
#70 UC Davis (17-7) vs. #68 Cal Poly (14-9)
April 28, 2016 at Indian Wells, Calif. (Indian Wells Tennis Garden)
Big West Conference Tournament - Semifinals

#68 Cal Poly 4, #70 UC Davis 2

DOUBLES
1. Ben Donovan / Corey Pang (CP) def. Alec Adamson / Adam Levie (UCD), 6-4
2. Garrett Auproux / Tim Tan (CP) def. Brett Bacharach / Eli Whittle (UCD), 6-3
3. Tommy Lam / Bryce McKelvie (UCD) def. Dan Cardiff / Karl Enander (CP), 6-3

Order of finish: 2, 3, 1

SINGLES
1. Ben Donovan (CP) vs. #115 Alec Adamson (UCD), unfinished
2. Garrett Auproux (CP) def. James Wade (UCD), 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-5
3. Corey Pang (CP) def. Brett Bacharach (UCD), 6-4, 6-1
4. Bryce McKelvie (UCD) def. Josh Ortlip (CP), 6-2, 6-3
5. Everett Maltby (UCD) def. Axel Damiens (CP), 2-6, 6-2, 6-2
6. Sreyas Kolachalam (CP) def. Tommy Lam (UCD), 6-0, 3-6, 7-5

Order of Finish: 4, 3, 5, 6, 2