PHOENIX - The UC San Diego men's tennis team, competing in the Paseo Tournament hosted by Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, went 1-1 Friday. The Tritons now sit at 1-2 overall and will challenge Western New Mexico Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
"We competed hard today," UCSD head coach Eric Steidlmayer said. "Our doubles isn't where it needs to be but we showed improvement in singles. We play BYU-Hawaii again next month so maybe we can come out stronger then."
The first day of the tournament pitted No. 35 UCSD against host GCU in the morning and No. 27 BYU-Hawaii in the afternoon.
Despite a close 9-7 loss at No. 1 doubles when Armaun Emami and Austin West fell to Patrice Giraldi and Williams Herbert, the Tritons topped the Antelopes (1-1) in every other match Friday morning. At No. 1 singles, UCSD sophomore Chapman Chan topped Giraldi, 6-2, 6-2. At the No. 4 spot for the Tritons, freshman Junya Yoshida picked up the first victory of his career when he topped William Herbert 6-1, 6-3.
The afternoon match brought a stiffer test to UCSD's squad. The Seasiders of BYU-Hawaii (2-1) came out firing in doubles, taking two of the three matchups. Erik Elliott and Jake Fellow put together the lone doubles win for the Tritons, knocking off Andy Xing and Carlton Taylor, 8-4.
In singles Friday afternoon, UCSD gave BYUH a significant challenge. Elliott improved to 2-0 at No. 1 singles in 2010 for the Tritons when he took down No. 10 Rong Ma, 6-4, 2-6 (11-9), with a thrilling tiebreaker to end the match.
Junior captain Vincent Nguyen came away with a UCSD win at No. 4 singles, defeating Diego Miranda, 3-6, 6-3 (10-8). At the No. 6 spot, Sam Ling defeated Xing, 6-2, 6-2, for the Tritons' fourth and final point of the match.
On Saturday the Tritons will take on WNMU, who defeated BYUH on Thursday in a five-hour battle, 5-4.
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Match #1 - UC San Diego at Grand Canyon
| Singles competition |
| 1. Chapman Chan (UCSD) def. Patrice Giraldi (GCU) 6-2, 6-2 |
| 2. Jake Fellow (UCSD) def. Seymon Gas (GCU) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) |
| 3. Vincent Nguyen (UCSD) def. Brian Kirby (GCU) 6-3, 6-1 |
| 4. Junya Yoshida (UCSD) def. William Herbert (GCU) 6-1, 6-3 |
| 5. Austin West (UCSD) def. Sebastian Guevara (GCU) 6-1, 6-2 |
| 6. Naveen Dixit (UCSD) def. Jon Przybyl (GCU) 6-1, 6-0 |
| Match Notes |
| UC San Diego 1-1; National ranking #35; Regional ranking #4 |
| Grand Canyon 1-1 |
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Match #2 - UC San Diego vs. BYU-Hawaii
| Singles competition |
| 1. Erik Elliott (UCSD) def. #10 Rong Ma (BYUH) 6-4, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9) |
| 2. Agnel Peter (BYUH) def. Chapman Chan (UCSD) 7-6, 6-3 |
| 3. Chenyu Wu (BYUH) def. Jake Fellow (UCSD) 6-0, 6-3 |
| 4. Vincent Nguyen (UCSD) def. Diego Miranda (BYUH) 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-8) |
| 5. Carlton Taylor (BYUH) def. Armaun Emami (UCSD) 6-0, 6-2 |
| 6. Sam Ling (UCSD) def. Andy Xing (BYUH) 6-2, 6-2 |
| Match Notes |
| BYU-Hawaii 2-1; National ranking #27; Regional ranking #2 |
| UC San Diego 1-2; National ranking #35; Regional ranking #4 |
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