LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 16th-ranked UC San Diego men's tennis team will send several players (and a coach) down the road this week for the 123rd Annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Tennis Championships at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

The prestigious doubles-only event, which features a unique tournament format, will take place from Thursday, Mar. 1 through Sunday, Mar. 4.

Competing for UCSD will be the teams of Devon Sousa/Austin West, Sam Ling/Junya Yoshida, Kona Luu/Jason Wall, Chapman Chan/Max Jiganti and Andrew Malozsak/Mark Meyer. In addition, Triton head coach Eric Steidlmayer will be playing in the open tourney.

The Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Tennis Championships offers players and spectators one of the most interesting and unique competitor fields in the country according to Bill Kellogg, tournament director and President of the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.

"This event is not only a showcase for some of the best collegiate players in the nation, but also for a strong field of independent players such as top teaching pros, promising juniors, college coaches and even former tour players," Kellogg said.

Joining UCSD in the collegiate ranks will be Boston College, Cal, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Fresno State, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine, Rice, San Diego State, University of San Diego, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Villanova and William and Mary.

In first round action Thursday, Luu and Wall play against independents Jack McCullers and Tyler Pham (2 pm), Chan and Jiganti will take on independents Arturro Navarro and Manuel Ortiz (2 pm), Ling and Yoshida face independents Donald Johnson and Jacob Johnson (3 pm) and Malozsak and Meyer square off against Rice's top duo of Harry Fowler and Christian Savaria (3:30 pm). Sousa and West's first match will be against independents Scott Kintz and Scott Lippitt on Friday (8 am). Steidlmayer, along with partner Michael Meyer, will play against Stanford's Jamin Ball and Walker Kehrer in a first round match Friday (10 am).

In 2011, Jiganti teamed up with Maxence Dutreix to win three matches before falling in the consolation quarterfinals. Wall and Armaun Emami, Chan and Vincent Nguyen, Ling and Yoshida and West and Erik Elliott all won first round matches.

The Stanford duo of Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher won the 2011 title by defeating Remi Boutillier and Rikus de Villiers of Fresno State in the final.

"With the combination of top collegiate players and experienced independent players, the level of competition is going to very high from the first round all through the tournament finals," Kellogg said.

Admission to the 123rd Annual Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Tennis Championships is free and open to the public. On-site parking is available for a nominal fee.

The tournament is one of the five-oldest tennis events in the world and the second-oldest in the United States. First held in 1890 at The Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, Calif., the original concept pitted the best players from the East versus those from the West. The coast-to-coast rivalry was the inspiration for the Davis Cup. Past winners of the Pacific Coast Men's Doubles Championship include Jack Kramer, Ted Schroeder, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Segura, Don Budge, Tony Trabert, Stan Smith, Bob Lutz, Arthur Ashe, Dennis Ralston, John McEnroe and many other world-class champions.

For the full tournament draw and list of seeded players, go to:
http://tennislink.usta.com/TOURNAMENTS/TournamentHome_New/Tournament.aspx?T=113637.

J. Fred Sidhu (JFS Communications) and Lindsey Suda (La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club) contributed to this story.

- UCSDtritons.com -