Cal Poly defeated UC Riverside Saturday at home 6-1 in a Big West Conference dual.
The Mustangs won five of six singles matches, and dominated the doubles matches improving to 4-4, while UC Riverside dropped 3-6. Cal Poly freshman Andre Dome swept to a 6-1, 6-0 No. 1 win against UC Riverside’s Gorjan Kovacevic, who played with a noticeable injury.
“It was tough (Gorjan) was injured, so he didn’t put out his best effort, you could see it,” Dome said. “But I made him play, and I played well today. Luckily I pulled it off pretty easily.”
Junior Robert Foy also dominated a 6-0, 6-1, win at No. 4 and sophomore Drew Jacobs had a 6-4, 6-2 defeat at No. 5. Freshman Sebastian Bell won his first collegiate match with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 victory over the Highlander’s Raineir Matias.
Cal Poly opened the doubles matches with three wins started with an 8-2 win for Dome and senior Andrew Gerst. Foy and senior Darryn Young won 8-5 at No. 2, and freshman Brian McPhee and sophomore Blake Wardman declared an 8-4 victory at No. 3 to complete the set.
“We started off slow, I lost my serve then we just got it together,” Dome said. “We beat them pretty handily, that wasn’t too bad of a match.”
The team did well, but there is always room for improvement, with certain players who need to perform at a higher level said head coach Justin McGrath.
“It’s been an up and down day, and with the time off we’ve had it kind of shows, but we’re trying to compete as hard as we can,” McGrath said.
Cal Poly hosts the second and final Big West home match of the season Sunday at noon, against UC Irvine but with a big team to play against, McGrath is hopeful.
“My expectations of the team are high, and we’re trying to achieve to win the Big West conference so, we’ve got our work cut out for us,” McGrath said. “We play a very good team tomorrow, and we’ll get to see right where we’re at with UC Irvine.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Anteaters defeated Cal Poly 6-1 despite a win at No. 1 singles from Andre Dome.