Moraga, Calif. - The soggy weather may have forced adjustments to the SMC Fall Invitational, but Pacific turned in crisp tennis Saturday notching seven victories. Alex Giannini won both his singles and doubles flights for the Tigers.
Intended as a three-day event, but shortened to a one-day affair due to inclement weather,
Giannini teamed with Ross Watson to win Flight A of doubles. The duo dispatched Alec Adamson and Everett Maltby of UC Davis, 6-3, in the semifinals before 6-3 win in the finals over Mikus Losbergs and Dom Miller of Sacramento State.
Lance Ngo and Nathan Hampton were topped in the Doubles E semifinals, 6-3 by Kamran Khan and Jesus Tapiador Barajas of Santa Clara and then fell in the third-place match to Louis Chabut and Hermont Legaspi of Sac State, 6-3.
In Singles action, Giannini won Flight D, with a victory over Sacramento State's Christopher Clayton in the semifinals, 3-6; 6-1; 1-0 (8) and a win over Bryce McKelvie of UC Davis, 7-5; 3-6; 1-0(4).
Watson fell to Santa Clara's Andrew Gu, 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of Flight B, but topped James Wade of UC Davis in the third place match, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
Ngo took the third place match of Flight K, with a win over Fresno State's Bailey Gong, 6-2, 6-3, after falling to Matt Halligan of Holy Names in the semis, 6-3, 6-3.
Hampton also won third in Flight L, topping Blaine Mengert of Sonoma State, 6-3, 6-1 after a semifinal loss to Kasparas Zemaitelis of Sac State, 6-0, 2-6, 1-0 (3).
"Today was our final tournament of the Fall season and I couldn't be happier with the way in which the team competed today," head coach Ryan Redondo said. "In my opinion, it was very symbolic of the whole fall we had. The ebbs and flows were full of purpose and each individual today and on this team became a better competitor and learned something about their values as Tigers and as men.
Speaking specifically today, I felt that we achieved our commitments moving into the final matches of the day. Yes, we did win them, but each Tiger earned them with a significant amount of determination and purpose and combined their personal and team values as one. Alex Giannini competed in his last fall tournament as a senior like a true leader. He competed. He dictated. He showed resilience. Ross Watson defeated a very tough competitor in James Wade after a below standard performance in the morning; showing a tremendous amount of heart, resilience, and commitment to himself and team. He was absolutely dropping bombs.
Nathan Hampton was tested in a big way and he was very coachable. A very important value we express that will aid in his development as a man and competitor. Very fun to see him gain confidence in his competitive skill sets.
And lastly, Lance Ngo also played his last fall event as a senior. There was a lot of learning from Lance today that I felt he showed a lot of backbone and maturity in. He lost some matches and it didn't phase his purpose in wanting to get better, which he definitely did in the final match. Lance strikes a very clean ball and when he does that consistently he showed how dangerous he is.
We now move into another very important segment of the academic year where our department value of balance will play a key role in our preparation for the Spring team season."
