LOS ANGELES – Despite winning the doubles point and collecting a pair of wins over ranked opponents, #24 San Diego men's tennis dropped its first match of the season, 4-3, to UCF in the 12th annual ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on Saturday.
The dual match was even at 3-3 and freshman
Sacchitt Sharrma climbed back from a 5-2 hole in the third set of the decisive match, but #108 Bogdan Pavel put away Sharrma and the Toreros 7-5 to clinch the victory for the Knights (2-1).
"Heck of a college tennis match," said USD head coach
Ryan Keckley. "The boys battled tooth and nail with a very good UCF team for four-and-a-half hours. We did not capitalize on some opportunities along the way, but we competed about as well as we could have asked for. We just came up a bit short when it mattered most. As the season progresses, we will become more comfortable in those pivotal moments that can swing a dual match in your favor. The more experiences we have like this match, the more prepared we will be down the stretch."
The back-and-forth and arduous day between the two sides was started by the Toreros (1-1) winning the doubles point.
Gui Osorio and
Nico Borter took down the sixth-ranked pair in the nation, Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi and Gabriel Decamps, by breaking the Knights' serve and clinching the point with a 7-5 victory. Osorio and Borter were up 4-2, but the UCF pair showed why it is one of the top-ranked teams in the country by fighting back against the Toreros and tying it at 4-4 and 5-5.
In singles,
August Holmgren topped #29 Grassi Mazzuchi 7-5, 7-5 for a ranked win that also put the Toreros up 2-1 in the match.
Other victories for the Toreros included
Joel Gamerov overcoming a tiebreaker loss in the first set and beating Alan Rubio 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 3 position in singles. The win also evened the dual score at 3-3 and provided a boost to Sharrma at court four.
Holmgren and Gamerov captured a win in doubles as well by racing out to a 4-1 lead against Pavel and Hilderbrand before winning 6-2. It was the first doubles match to be completed.
The Toreros will face San Diego State in the site's consolation match on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
Results (in order of finish)
Doubles
No. 1: Holmgren/Gamerov (USD) def. Pavel/Hilderbrand (UCF) 6-2
No. 3: Rubio/Johnson (UCF) def. Sharrma/Norfeldt (USD) 6-2
No. 2: Osorio/Borter (USD) def. #6 Grassi Mazzuchi/Decamps (UCF) 7-5
Singles
No. 1: #22 Gabriel Decamps (UCF) def. #30
Gui Osorio (USD) 6-0, 6-0
No. 2: August Holmgren (USD) def. #29 Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi (UCF) 7-5, 7-5
No. 5: JanMagnus Johnson (UCF) def.
David Norfeldt (USD) 6-3, 6-3
No. 6: Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF) def.
Nico Borter (USD) 6-3, 6-4
No. 3: Joel Gamerov (USD) def. Alan Rubio (UCF) 6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-4
No. 4: #108 Bogdan Pavel (UCF) def.
Sacchitt Sharrma (USD) 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
