LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego men's tennis team, ranked at No. 30 nationally in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll, earned its 11th-straight NCAA Division II postseason bid when it was announced as the third seed in the West Region during Wednesday's selection show. The Tritons (12-10) will battle second-seeded BYU-Hawaii (18-3) on May 6, with the match set to start at 9:30 a.m. HST (12:30 p.m. PST) in Laie.
"I'm very proud of our team and our guys have continued to work hard," UCSD head coach Eric Steidlmayer said. "BYU plays hard and those players might have a leg up on us in terms of experience, but I know we're capable of going there and pulling out the upset."
The winner of the May 6 matchup will travel to Altamonte Springs, Fla., the following week for the Round of 16.
UCSD and BYUH have met on two different occasions this year, with the Seasiders recording a 5-4 win at the Paseo Tournament in Phoenix on Feb. 12 and then securing a 7-2 victory in Laie on March 24. In the most recent postseason contest between the two squads, the Tritons posted a 5-0 sweep against BYUH on May 9, 2008, in the West Regional.
This season, the Tritons put together an 8-3 mark against in-region teams from the D-II level. Leading the way in the singles ladder is junior Erik Elliott, who holds a 9-6 record against UCSD's top competition. Three players on the Tritons' squad tallied double figures in singles victories: Vincent Nguyen (15-6), Junya Yoshida (14-3) and Sam Ling (12-7).
Currently in his 12th season as head coach at UCSD, Eric Steidlmayer has enjoyed plenty of playoff success. The Tritons' best finish nationally came in the spring of 2007, when UCSD took third place in the NCAA Championships and posted an overall record of 18-7.
Nguyen leads the Tritons' team in postseason experience, having played in three singles matches and one doubles contest through his first two years on the La Jolla campus. Last year, Hawaii Pacific dealt UCSD a 5-1 loss in the first round of the NCAA West Regional.
Armstrong Atlantic State has captured the D-II national title in the previous two seasons.
