Fresno State
Auproux, Beasley Lead Mustangs to Season-Opening Win Over Fresno St.
1/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — On the strength of a trio of straight-set singles victories, the Cal Poly men's tennis team began its dual season with a 4-3 home win over Fresno State on Friday.
To start the match, senior Devin Barber and sophomore Corey Pang topped Youssef Hassan and Sai Kartik 6-1 before the Bulldogs evened it up. The Mustangs then clinched the doubles point via another 6-1 score, the latter time from sophomore Ben Donovan and freshman Karl Enander versus Nikolas Papic and Eric Komati.
In singles, Donovan (now 6-4 overall) put Cal Poly up 2-1 by defeating Kartik 6-2, 6-3 on the No. 1 court.
Fresno State then tied it again before Garrett Auproux (pictured at right) edged Euan McIntosh at the No. 3 spot in the lineup, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
"I'm really proud of Gary Auproux with all that he has been through with injuries," Cal Poly head coach Nick Carless said of the sophomore, a top-40-rated recruit coming out of high school who has worked his way into an elevated role (and is now 5-4 including tournament play) after seeing more limited time due to ailments as a true freshman last spring. "He really stepped up in the moment and came up big."
Naveen Beasley then carried over a trend from the close of 2014, when he brought back-to-back postseason matches to ends. One of two seniors on the squad, he clinched the team outcome by downing Josh Zeoli 7-6 (5), 6-1.
At that juncture, the overall 4-2 score could've ceased all play, but each coaching staff had mutually agreed beforehand to allow a potentially still-active court to finish out; Fresno State thus chalked up the final result at No. 2.
"With the young team that we have this year, the level of maturity was phenomenal," assistant coach Mike Marquez added.
Cal Poly's home stand will continue against Saint Mary's, starting at 11 a.m. Sunday.
