Although the Cal men’s tennis team has been suffering from injuries recently, it will not blame its disappointing loss against San Diego State on anything other than its lackluster play.
The No. 16 Bears (5-5) just could not top San Diego State (8-3) this Thursday morning at the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego.
Each team notched three singles victories in the first round of the match to make the score 3-3 before entering the doubles round.
By the numbers, Cal had the upper hand with two ranked doubles duos on its team. Head coach Peter Wright fully expected the Cal squad to win.
However, the team failed to capitalize on several of its opportunities on the court, and according to Wright, the Bears lacked aggression when they were in the offensive position.
“The guys had a couple of lapses on the court,” Wright said. “Each team was counting on someone else to win the match, but before we knew it, we just lost them all.”
Cal ultimately fell to the Aztecs in a difficult 4-3 decision after losing all three of its doubles matches.
Both the Bears and the Aztecs appeared to be evenly matched in doubles. On the top two courts especially, the points went back and forth until both matches went into tiebreakers. However, San Diego State’s Hunter Nicholas and Thorsten Bertsch managed to eventually knock off the No. 18 Cal pair of senior Christoffer Konigsfeldt and junior Campbell Johnson, 9-8(5).
One court over, another Bear duo — freshman Mads Engsted and junior Ben McLachlan — fell, 9-8(6). Engsted had only practiced with McLachlan once before the match, after recovering from an injury he had sustained from last week’s Stanford match.
On the third court, Cal’s Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton were winning their set against Aztecs Juan Florez and Marvin Tawasi. But Florez and Tawasi turned the match around after Bayane and Melton gave the Aztecs a few easy points.
Over the past few weeks, several Bears suffered from injuries that affected their on-court play.
Junior Chase Melton returned to the doubles court for the first time since dropping out from singles play last week to injury. Two weeks ago, freshman Mads Engsted replaced Riki McLachlan as Ben McLachlan’s doubles partner, after Riki suffered a knee injury.
However, Thursday’s loss all came down to bad decision-making by the Bears on the court.
“Everyone was definitely a little bit nervous and a little bit more careful on the court,” Wright said. “But we really just let one get away today — we got outplayed by a team that fought all the way until the end.”
The Bears will travel on Friday to La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club to play against some friendly competition at the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship. The tournament, which does not count towards ITA collegiate rankings, will provide the team with a much-needed break to recuperate from recent injuries the team has stacked up from the past few weeks.
Janice Chua covers men’s tennis. Contact her at [email protected].