SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The UC Irvine men's tennis team opened the three-day San Diego State Fall Invitational with five singles and four doubles victories Friday at Aztec Tennis Center.
Six Anteaters were in action in the first round of Flight 1 singles. Freshman Moritz Geis kicked off his collegiate career by cruising to a 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 53 Pepperdine's Guilherme Galvao.
Junior Luca Marquard also picked up a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Gregoire Balenci (Grand Canyon).
Sophomore Vatsal Bajpai dropped a tough 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 decision to GCU's Mathieu Rajaonah, while classmate Luis Lopez also went the distance against Pepperdine's Dane Esses, but came up on the wrong end of a 1-6, 6-4, 14-12 score.
Freshman Derek Chen and sophomore Anil Patel each suffered straight-set losses.
Over in Flight 2, all three 'Eaters won their first-round matches. Sophomore Mason Hansen topped Garrett Kurtz of 29th-ranked San Diego, 7-6, 6-3, while freshman Bruce Man-Son-Hing defeated Pepperdine's Scotland Garapedian, 6-4, 6-3. Junior Andrew Gong also had a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Rafa Lira (Grand Canyon).
In doubles action, UC Irvine had a trio of teams in Flight 1 where they went 3-3 overall. Chen and Man-Son-Hing won their first collegiate match, 8-4, over Valentin Lang/Justin Cvitanovic of Grand Canyon. They then came up short against 12th-ranked USC's duo of Henry Ji and David Laser, 8-5.
Bajpai and Hansen also started the day off strong, defeating Pepperdine's Esses/Galvao, 8-2. The 'Eaters were unable to advance, however, falling to San Diego State's Nick Mitchell/Joel Popov, 8-4, in the quarterfinals.
Marquard and Lopez were also in Flight 1. The UCI tandem dropped a narrow 8-7 decision to Joel Gamerov and Nico Borter of San Diego, but bounced back with an 8-3 victory over UCSD's Marc Isaia/Eric Tseng.
In Flight 2, Gong and Patel suffered a pair of losses to Grand Canyon's Philip Kuehnen/Rafa Lira (8-6) and SDSU's Raul De La Torre/David Hough (8-3).
Geis was paired up with Grand Canyon's Mathieu Ounanian in doubles play and the mixed duo split its two matches in Flight 2. They lost to Austin Bates/Sam Chaffin of Florida Gulf Coast, 8-5, before advancing to the consolation final with an 8-5 win over Marius Ruh and Justin Zhang of UCSD.
UC Irvine will continue action at the SDSU Fall Invitational at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
San Diego State Fall Invitational
Aztec Tennis Center – San Diego, Calif.
Friday, October 7
Flight 1 Singles
Moritz Geis (UCI) def. Guilherme Galvao (Pepp): 6-1, 6-1
Lorenzo Fucile (GCU) def. Derek Chen (UCI): 7-6, 6-0
Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Vatsal Bajpai (UCI): 6-4, 4-6, 10-7
Dane Esses (Pepp) def. Luis Lopez (UCI): 1-6, 6-4, 14-12
David Laser (USC) def. Anil Patel (UCI): 6-4, 6-4
Luca Marquard (UCI) def. Gregoire Balenci (GCU): 6-3, 6-3
Flight 2 Singles
Mason Hansen (UCI) def. Garrett Kurtz (USD): 7-6, 6-3
Bruce Man-Son-Hing (UCI) def. Scotland Garapedian (Pepp): 6-4, 6-3
Andrew Gong (UCI) def. Rafa Lira (GCU): 6-2, 6-2
Flight 1 Doubles
Round 1
Chen/Man-Son-Hing (UCI) def. Cvitanovic/Lang (GCU), 8-4
Bajpai/Hansen (UCI) def. Esses/Galvao (Pepp), 8-2
Gamerov/Borter (USD) def. Lopez/Marquard (UCI), 8-7
Round 2
Ji/Laser (USC) def. Chen/Man-Son-Hing (UCI), 8-5
Mitchell/Popov (SDSU) def. Bajpai/Hansen (UCI), 8-4
Consolation
Lopez/Marquard (UCI) def. Isaia/Tseng (UCSD), 8-3
Flight 2 Doubles
Round 1
Lira/Kuehnen (GCU) def. Gong/Patel (UCI), 8-6
Bates/Chaffin (FGCU) def. Geiz (UCI)/Ounanian (GCU), 8-5
Consolation
De La Torre/Hough (SDSU) def. Gong/Patel (UCI), 8-3
Geis (UCI)/Ounanian (GCU) def. Ruh/Zhang (UCSD), 8-5
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