The Cal men’s tennis team has been spending too much time in the training room and in the doctor’s office but not enough time on the court.
In the past three weeks, No. 16 Bears have notched a few dual match losses after suffering from several player injuries.
And if the team cannot conquer San Diego State this Thursday, the squad will take a hit in its national rankings. The Bears will drop from the top 16, which is the cutoff to enter the NCAA championship competition.
“Our biggest goal for our match against San Diego State is to get healthy,” Cal coach Peter Wright said. “We need to have a healthy team moving forward.”
Despite taking home the victory in the Big Slam this past Sunday against Stanford, 5-2, Cal (5-4) had to replace two singles players from the starting lineup due to another set of injuries.
Since then, the Bears have been playing it safe. Freshman Mads Engsted sat out practice for a few days before he returned to the court. Engsted recently replaced senior co-captain Riki McLachlan as Ben McLachlan’s doubles partner after Riki suffered from a season-ending knee injury.
However, Engsted also suffered an injury right before the Stanford match, which forced him to withdraw from the lineup on Sunday.
Engsted practiced this Wednesday for the first time since last week, and he is looking to rejoin McLachlan on the second court in doubles.
“Hopefully they’ll all be able to play, but we’re still monitoring several injuries for our guys,” Wright said.
This Thursday, the No. 16 Cal squad will compete against the Aztecs (7-3) at the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego. The Bears have the numbers on their side, with three ranked singles players and two top doubles duos. But the match will not come easy for the squad.
San Diego State has been slowly moving up the ranks after recently notching a critical victory over No. 21 Auburn last week. This past Saturday, the Aztecs also clinched a 5-2 win over Boise State, completely knocking the Broncos off the ITA rankings list.
“Winning against Stanford certainly gave us some confidence going into this match, but we’re playing (the Aztecs) on their home court,” Wright said. “They’re a well-coached team with a couple of good wins this year, so we have to be on point when we play them.”
After Cal battles against San Diego State on Thursday, the team will travel to the nearby La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club to play at the 124th annual Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championships.
The tournament field includes the top intercollegiate squads in the country, including No. 2 USC, No. 3 UCLA and No. 12 Pepperdine.
With the squad currently battling against the onset of injury, Cal is looking forward to the much needed rest from dual matches.
The Bears will just have to make it until then.
Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at [email protected].