The No. 61 Cal Poly men’s tennis team (3-6) lost both matches on the road last weekend to ranked opponents, No. 3 Texas Christian (TCU) and No. 53 Southern Methodist (SMU).
On Saturday afternoon, the Mustangs fell 7-0 to the Horned Frogs at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
The doubles point was captured by TCU after Cal Poly’s No. 3 team, sophomores Karl Enander and Dan Cardiff, lost 6-2 and Cal Poly’s No. 2 team, juniors Tim Tan and Garrett Auproux, were defeated 7-5. At the No. 1 doubles position, juniors Corey Pang and Ben Donovan’s play was stopped at 5-5.
All of the Mustangs besides Auproux were bested in straight sets in singles competition. At the No. 2 singles position, Auproux pushed ITA’s No. 38 player, Guillermo Nunez, to a third set. Despite Auproux’s success in the second set, Nunez won the match 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
On Sunday, SMU took down Cal Poly 7-0 at Turpin Stadium in Dallas. SMU clinched the doubles point by defeating Cal Poly’s No. 1 duo, Donovan and Pang 6-0, and No. 3 team, Enander and Cardiff 6-2.
Cal Poly struggled to gain the upperhand on all six singles courts. Freshman Josh Ortlip battled on court No. 4, forcing a tiebreak in both of his sets against Markus Kerner, but was outlasted 7-6, 7-6. The remaining singles matches were also decided in straight sets.
Up to this point, Cal Poly has faced six ranked opponents out of nine matches played this season. The Mustangs return to San Luis Obispo to kick-off a nine-match home stand, starting with Fresno State on Saturday Feb. 27 at 12 p.m. Cal Poly’s longest stretch of uninterrupted home competition for the entire season lasts through April 3.