LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's tennis team secured a 6-3 home victory over Western New Mexico Wednesday.
With the Tritons leading 4-3 and two matches in progress, junior captain Vincent Nguyen captured the deciding point with a 6-3, 6-4 victory against WNMU's Yoeri Van Speybroeck at the No. 4 singles position. UCSD, ranked at No. 28 in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll, improves to 7-5 overall this season. The No. 40 Mustangs fall to 1-5 in 2010.
The two squads came out evenly matched in the opening doubles portion. WNMU picked up an 8-4 win at the No. 1 spot while the Tritons took an 8-4 victory at No. 3. UCSD juniors Erik Elliot and Jake Fellow tallied a narrow 9-7 win in the No. 2 position over Mustangs' Flavio Rueda and Kyle Lynch.
With Chapman Chan and Fellow falling at No. 1 and No. 2 in the singles ladder, Sam Ling, Nguyen, Junya Yoshida and Naveen Dixit picked up the slack with victories in the remaining spots.
Despite the match having already been decided, Ling completed a comeback 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win to conclude Wednesday's contest. Ling and Nguyen share the team lead in singles victories with eight apiece.
The Tritons continue their homestand Friday when they host No. 36 Sonoma State in another critical in-region matchup. That contest is set to begin at 2 p.m. at the Northview Tennis Courts.
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| Singles competition |
| 1. Yair Banuelos (WNMU) def. Chapman Chan (UCSD) 6-2, 6-3 |
| 2. Henning Thrien (WNMU) def. Jake Fellow (UCSD) 6-3, 6-3 |
| 3. Sam Ling (UCSD) def. Kyle Lynch (WNMU) 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 |
| 4. Vincent Nguyen (UCSD) def. Yoeri Van Speybroeck (WNMU) 6-3, 6-4 |
| 5. Junya Yoshida (UCSD) def. Flavio Rueda (WNMU) 6-2, 6-0 |
| 6. Naveen Dixit (UCSD) def. Francisco Damasio (WNMU) 6-1, 6-3 |
| Match Notes |
| Western New Mexico 1-5; National ranking #40 |
| UC San Diego 7-5; National ranking #28; Regional ranking #3 |
