Lubbock, Texas – Pacific's men's tennis team picked up their first win of the season with a 4-3 defeat of Arizona Saturday. The Tigers also fell 4-1 to No. 17 Texas Tech.
Pacific swept the three doubles matches before winning three of the six singles matches against Arizona.
The day started with a 6-3 win for Pacific's Sem Verbeek and Jose Chamba, who defeated Naoki Takeda and Trent Botha. After that came a win for Daniel Alameh and Alex Giannini, who took down Arizona's pair of Jason Jaruvang and Shoki Kasahara 6-2. Another 6-2 doubles victory followed for the Tigers, with Miguel Diaz and Bernardo Oliviera defeating Harry Busby and Will Adkisson.
Verbeek also won his singles match for the Tigers, taking down Takeda. Verbeek won the first set 6-1 but dropped the second set 4-6 before rallying and taking the match with a 6-2 win in set three.
Alameh followed by Verbeek's win with a victory of his own over Busby of Arizona. Alameh won in just two sets, winning 7-5 and 6-2.
The final singles victory of the day for Pacific came when Diaz beat Botha in three sets. Diaz won the first set 6-1, lost the second 3-6, and sealed the match with a 6-4 victory in the third set.
Chamba fell to Arizona's Jaruvang in three sets, losing 4-6, 6-3, 5-3. Giannini also dropped his singles match, losing to Will Kneale 6-3, 6-2. The final match of the day was a two-set loss for Pacific's Oliveira, who lost 6-4, 6-4 to Oliver Plaskett.
Against the No. 17 Red Raiders, Alameh posted a first-set win over No. 35 Alex Sendegeya, but fell in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. Jolan Cailleau nipped Adavelly at the third position, 6-2, 6-4, while Connor Curry topped Giannini 6-4, 6-2.
Oliveira posted a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 win over Augusto Stodart, while Lance Ngo fell to Bjorn Thomson, 6-1, 6-1.
Texas Tech took the match 4-1 as Verbeek was battling with Hugo Dojas, 4-6, 7-5, 3-2, unfinished. Doubles were not played.
"I am very encouraged by our performance today," head coach Ryan Redondo said. "We started out this morning against Arizona in freezing weather with some snow coming down. After two extremely tight matches that we lost yesterday, I saw the guys come out with more purpose and determination to stick to their commitments. i think we could have closed out Arizona quicker, but, as every great team in college tennis does, they fight back-they push back. After earning the doubles point quickly Daniel Alameh, Miguel Diaz, and Sem Verbeek came through for us with some high level tennis. Sem clinched the match in the third set against a player that has been in the top 30 in the rankings. With an hour to rest and get treatment, we took on the 17th ranked team of Texas Tech and put them on their heels. We took out two starters in Miguel and Jose and to be honest, I think we played better and competed the way in which we expect much more in the loss to Tech. Bernardo Oliveira had a great learning experience taking his match 6-1 in the third at #5 and Alameh and Sem were in three sets before Alameh went down in the third leaving Sem's match stranded at 3-3 in the third at #1. We get a much needed day off tomorrow and then we are right back at it with a rematch vs. New Mexico and Arizona. We strive for perfect effort in everything we do, everything counts. So, we have a lot to take care before Monday."
Next on the docket for the Tigers in a busy weekend is a 7:00 AM matchup with New Mexico on Monday, January 18. Pacific will face off against Arizona again that day as well, playing the Wildcats at 11:00 AM.
