Feb. 1, 2014
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego men's tennis team (2-2) defeated UC San Diego 5-2 and UC Irvine 6-1 in their first home matches of the year Saturday.
The Toreros, who are ranked No. 43 by the ITA, had strong performances from every member of the roster. USD started out the day by taking the doubles point from UC San Diego after Uros Petronijevic and Ciaran Fitzgerald defeated Tritons' Max Jiganti and Kona Luu 8-5. However, The Tritons didn't go down easy. The remaining doubles points went down to the wire with Romain Kalaydjian and Andrew Raphaelson defeating Mark Meyer and Alexandre Miaule 8-6 and freshmen duo Geoffrey Fosso and Patrick Hall winning 8-7 (8-6) against Rajeev Herekar and Andrew Malozsak. Hall was making his first appearance in the spring season.
The Toreros got off to a great start in singles play. Junior Ciaran Fitzgerald dominated at the No. 4 spot defeating Tritons' Kona Luu 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Filip Vittek followed with a victory over Rajeev Herekar 6-3, 6-1. Senior captain Clarke Spinosa grabbed his first win of the dual season cruising against Max Jiganti 6-4, 6-1 to clinch the match. Also making his spring debut was freshman Aaron Addison who defeated Ganesh Alagappan 7-6(3), 6-1. In the remaining two matches, both Patrick Hall and Andrew Raphaelson fell short losing in three sets to UCSD.
After knocking off the Tritons, the Toreros came out of the gate strong taking the doubles point in another competitive battle against UC Irvine.
At the No. 1 spot, Clarke Spinosa and Filip Vittek cruised versus the Eaters' Ryan Cheung and Jonathan Hammel 8-3. UC Irvine answered edging out No. 2 Uros Petronijevic and Geoffrey Fosso in a tiebreak 8-7(5). However, the Anteaters' comeback was short-lived after juniors Ciaran Fitzgerald and Andrew Raphaelson clinched defeating Shuhei Shibahara and Tyler Pham 8-6. Fitzgerald and Raphaelson extend their winning streak to 3-0.
To open singles play, Andrew Raphaelson rebounded from the morning's match knocking off the Eaters' Caryl Hernandez 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Uros Petronijevic followed playing his first singles match of the day beating Rafael Davidian 6-3, 6-2. The remainder of the Toreros continued to follow suit as Clarke Spinosa defeated Ryan Cheung 6-0, 7-6(5) at the No. 1 spot, while Romain Kalaydjian finished shortly after beating Jonathan Hammel 7-5, 6-4. The Toreros only loss of the afternoon came at the No. 3 spot. UCI's Tyler Pham pulled out the win over Filip Vittek 4-6, 7-5, (10-4). The Toreros finished strong with Ciaran Fitzgerald going a perfect 4-0 for the entire day defeating Eaters' Jonathan Poon 6-4, 7-5.
"We're happy that we got two wins," Coach Brett Masi said after the double-header. "I saw good things today. Ciaran went 4-0 in both singles and doubles which is great, but as a whole we didn't execute the way we should have and we didn't work as hard as we should have. The first week of school is always tough - the work ethic wasn't quite there to get ready for the weekend. But the guys know what they need to get better at and they are already eager to prepare for next week's match."
The Toreros look to continue their winning ways when they travel north on Saturday, February 8th, to take on Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. at 1:30 p.m.
Final Results
#43 San Diego 5, #15 (D-II) UCSD 2
Doubles Competition
1. Ciaran Fitzgerald/Uros Petronijevic (USD) def. Max Jiganti/Kona Luu (UCSD) 8-5
2. Romain Kalaydjian/Andrew Raphaelson (USD) def. Mark Meyer/Alexandre Miaule (UCSD) 8-6
3. Geoffrey Fosso/Patrick Hall (USD) def. Rajeev Herekar/Andrew Malozsak (UCSD) 8-7(6)
Singles Competition
1. #27 Clarke Spinosa (USD) def. Max Jiganti (UCSD) 6-4, 6-1
2. Filip Vittek (USD) def. Rajeev Herekar (UCSD) 6-3, 6-1
3. Alexandre Miaule (UCSD) def. Andrew Raphaelson (USD) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3)
4. Ciaran Fitzgerald (USD) def. Kona Luu (UCSD) 6-0, 6-0
5. Aaron Addison (USD) def. Ganesh Alagappan (UCSD) 7-6(3), 6-1
6. Mark Meyer (UCSD) def. Patrick Hall (USD) 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4)
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (4, 2, 1, 5, 3, 6)
Final Results
#43 San Diego 6, #75 UC Irvine 1
Doubles Competition
1. Clarke Spinosa/Filip Vittek (USD) def. Ryan Cheung/Jonathan Hammel (UCI) 8-3
2. Justin Agbayani/Caryl Hernandez (UCI) def. Geoffrey Fosso/Uros Petronijevic (USD) 8-7(5)
3. Ciaran Fitzgerald/Andrew Raphaelson (USD) def. Shuhei Shibahara/Tyler Pham (UCI) 8-6
Singles Competition
1. #27 Clarke Spinosa (USD) def. Ryan Cheung (UCI) 6-0, 7-6(5)
2. Uros Petronijevic (USD) def. Rafael Davidian (UCI) 6-3, 6-2
3. Tyler Pham (UCI) def. Filip Vittek (USD) 4-6, 7-5, (10-4)
4. Romain Kalaydjian (USD) def. Jonathan Hammel (UCI) 7-5, 6-4
5. Andrew Raphaelson (USD) def. Caryl Hernandez (UCI) 6-3, 6-2
6. Ciaran Fitzgerald (USD) def. Jonathan Poon (UCI) 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: Doubles (1, 2, 3); Singles (5, 2, 1, 4, 3, 6)
