Toreros take down Mustangs

USD men’s tennis team defeats Cal Poly 6-1 in season opener 

Maria Watters / Asst. Sports Editor

After nearly a year away from the courts, the University of San Diego men’s tennis team returned to action at home on Friday against the Cal Poly Mustangs. 

The best-of-seven contest began with three highly competitive doubles matches for the incredibly important first overall point. After one set of very close competition, the Toreros were able to beat the Mustangs on two of the three courts, giving them a 1-0 advantage going into the singles matches. The six matches would decide the winner of the matchup, with USD needing to win on three courts, and Cal Poly needing to win on four. When the dust settled, the Toreros were declared the winners, yielding only a single loss out of the six, resulting in an impressive 6-1 victory. 

In the ten months since Torero fans have seen their six-time WCC champions compete, the men’s tennis team has experienced some changes. The Toreros will be competing at the newly renovated Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center for the first time since its completion just weeks earlier. A new season also means a new lineup of players eager to carry on the legacy of the six championship teams that came before them. These new additions to the roster include first years Blake Kasday from Las Vegas, Nev. and Ilias Zimmerman from Zürich, Switzerland. 

The time away from competition was a significant factor in the preparation for Friday’s match according to redshirt third year August Holmgren.

“All teams in the country are performing worse than they are used to, I’m sure, because we haven’t competed in almost a year,” Holmgren said. “It is very important that we recognize what’s going on in terms of that and the nerves, and are prepared that we need to find ways to compete even when we are not playing the best tennis … We need to make sure that we are ready for that because when those tough moments do happen, if we are prepared for them, then we will play better tennis.”

And though the young new faces bring hope for a bright future for the Torero men, returning players and coaches add experience and much stability to the 2021 team. Head coach Ryan Keckley begins his sixth season with the Toreros with high expectations for his team and a clear message for his players to achieve success.

“The message was two fold, with number one being how are we going to handle the moment?” Keckley said. “We are going to handle the moment by sticking together … and within that just the competitiveness that we need to be successful in order to win. The other message was respect your opponent but expect to win, and we need to do that with a confident swagger that USD tennis has had, quite frankly, for the last number of years. And if we could find that swagger in the beginning, then I knew we could play to our strengths and eventually I thought we would prevail.”

Leading the team are three upperclassmen who have received preseason rankings from the International Tennis Association. Redshirt senior Gui Osorio and redshirt junior Nico Borter were ranked 26 in the ITA’s doubles rankings. Osorio also received a singles ranking along with redshirt junior August Holmgren at 51 and 60, respectively. 

But the changes surrounding the USD men’s tennis team are only half of the story. The history between the Toreros and the Cal Poly Mustangs is long, and heavily favored USD entering into their first contest since 2015. The Torero men have won five straight matchups against the Mustangs, with their most recent victory the result of a dominating 7-0 performance. However, Cal Poly entered Friday’s match with a win under their belt after defeating San Diego State on Thursday 5-2. 

Despite their winning record against the Mustangs in the past, Keckley was weary of underestimating their first opponent of the season.

“Cal Poly is a very competitive, loud, emotionally charged team,” Keckley said. “I was afraid that if we found ourselves on our heels, it could have been a very different day than we saw unfold today.”

Gameplay started with three doubles matches to decide the winner of the first point in the overall best-of-seven contest. On court one, redshirt juniors Holmgren and David Norfeldt took on Cal Poly’s redshirt senior Antoine Noel and redshirt first year Joe Leather. Redshirt junior Nico Borter and redshirt first year Marvin Schaber faced redshirt sophomore Gary Vardanyan and first year Noah Berry on court two. Rounding out the doubles lineup for USD was redshirt first year Sacchitt Sharrma and first year Ilias Zimmerman, and redshirt juniors Alex Stater and Roman Shenkiryk for the Mustangs. 

All three matches were highly competitive. Cal Poly got the first win on court three, defeating Sharrma and Zimmerman 4-6. The Toreros would have to win both remaining doubles matches or surrender the first point to the Mustangs. Holmgren and Norfeldt managed to secure the win on court one, 7-6, levelling the score to one match all. The doubles point would be decided on court two. Ultimately, Borter and Schraber were able to pull off the win for the Toreros, defeating their opponents 7-5, and putting USD up 1-0 in the overall score. 

Despite winning the doubles point, coach Keckley was not fully satisfied with his players’ performance.

“We came out pretty flat and quite frankly, pretty nervous,” Keckley said. “But they did a great job responding and building each other up by their energy and their composure.”

The singles lineup was equally formidable for both teams, leading off with Holmgren against Noel on court one. It wasn’t surprising to see Holmgren taking up the number one spot for the Toreros, especially with the notable absence of Osorio who was unable to compete due to injury. Holmgren is very familiar with playing on the top court for USD and his success at that spot led to him receiving an impressive preseason ranking from the ITA. 

Borter took on Berry on court two, followed by Norfeldt and Stater on court three. On court four, Sharrma was set to face off against Leather, with Zimmerman against Vardanyan behind them on court five. Completing the lineup for the Toreros was Schraber against redshirt first year Fernando Fonseca for the Mustangs. 

USD came out swinging during the second round of play, refusing to lose a single first set across all six courts. The most decisive first-set victories were secured by Holmgren and Sharrma, 6-0 and 6-1 respectively. 

Keckley was much more pleased with how his players competed during the singles matches following the close doubles contests. 

“The boys did a really good job after the first twenty minutes of doubles finding their feet and understanding what they needed to do to win and making the adjustments in singles,” Keckley said.  

The second sets were more competitive overall, with Cal Poly’s Stater able to win the Mustang’s first set 6-1 against Norfeldt. But it wasn’t enough to stop the Torero’s momentum after their dominating performance in the first sets. 

Holmgren made quick work of Noel on court one, securing a decisive 6-0, 6-0 victory. 

Borter followed suit by defeating Cal Poly’s true first year Berry 6-4, 6-1. The final nail in the Mustang’s coffin came from court four where Sharrma took down Leather 6-1, 6-4. 

Holmgren’s impressive, shut-out victory over Cal Poly’s Noel certainly started his season off with a bang. 

“I feel like I played really well, and it was important to get that second point coming after a shaky doubles point,” Holmgren said. “It makes me feel really good to have my first match in the new facility with one of the biggest, most convincing wins of my college career.”

At the end of play, USD emerged victorious, defeating Cal Poly 6-1 overall. 

But despite the impressive victory at the opening of their 2021 season, Keckley felt his players’ performance left much to be desired. 

“I thought we left a lot of meat on the bone today in regards to how each individual needs to play and how they actually played,” Keckley said. “We have been playing ninety to one hundred percent in practice, and today I thought we played fifty, sixty, maybe seventy percent of what we could play, and how we need to play in order to be successful.”

Torero tennis fans can only hope that their West Coast Conference champions will bring their best tennis this week when they face UC Irvine on Feb. 14 at home.