SAN DIEGO — A return to Big West play saw UC San Diego men's tennis shut-out UC Riverside 4-0 on Wednesday. The win moved the Tritons to 5-10 (2-1 Big West), while UC Riverside fell to 2-12 (0-1).
 
The Tritons secured the match by winning the doubles point and singles matches three, four and five. Pelayo Rodriguez and Zach Pellouchoud were joined by Carson Lee and Diogo Tinoco in winning doubles matches. Singles victories were earned by Rodriguez, Pellouchoud and David Adamson.
 
Due to inclement weather in La Jolla, the match was played at San Diego State's Aztec Tennis Center.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Doubles
A tightly-contested doubles point needed all three matches to decide the outcome. Lee and Tinoco started the Tritons off on the right foot by breezing past their No. 2 opponents by a 6-1 scoreline. Adamson and Robert Freedman then dropped their match one court three by a one-break deficit.
 
No. 1 doubles looked set for a tiebreaker until Pellouchoud and Rodriguez pulled away late. The duo won the last two games to claim a 7-5 victory and secure the doubles point for the Tritons.
 
Singles
Four of the six singles matches went to a third set. The two that did not were on courts three and four, where Rodriguez and Pellouchoud were both in control from start to finish to put the Tritons up 3-0 in the contest.
 
Adamson then locked up the dual match with a win at No. 5 singles. The freshman won the first set 6-3 before dropping the second 5-7, but he left little doubt in the third with a 6-0 result.
 
The remaining singles matches went unfinished. Lee (No. 1) and Tinoco (No. 2) were both up a break in the third set of their matches. Charles Qian (No. 6) had a 2-1 lead in his set three at the point of interruption.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Pelayo Rodriguez has now won three of his last four matches.
• The Tritons have now won two straight and three of the last four against the Highlanders.

UP NEXT
The Tritons continue Big West play next Saturday, April 5, with a match at Hawai'i. First serve is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.