Washington
No. 57 Cal Poly Defeated by No. 43 Washington, 6-1
1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
SEATTLE, Wash. – Featuring three singles players ranked in the Top-125 by the ITA, 43rd-ranked Washington overwhelmed 57th-ranked Cal Poly men's tennis on Friday, 6-1, at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. Cal Poly freshman Aiku Shintani managed the only Mustang victory against the Huskies, beating Joao Barra at No. 5 in three sets in come-from-behind fashion, 1-6, 7-5, 11-9.
Washington (6-1) raced out to an early 5-0 lead after securing the doubles point and collecting the first four of the initial six singles matchups. Cal Poly lost for the third consecutive time to open the spring season, with all three defeats coming to teams ranked in the Top-60 nationally by the ITA.
Including Shintani (pictured), three Mustangs forced a third set, as Garrett Auproux pushed his battle at No. 1 singles to a third before succumbing to UW's Mitch Stewart (ranked No. 84 by the ITA), 6-4, 2-6, 11-9 and Cal Poly junior Ben Donovan was outlasted in a marathon three-set battle at No. 2, falling to 122nd-ranked Gal Hakak, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.
To begin the afternoon, Washington's Kawika Lam and Stewart ousted sophomore Karl Enander and Shintani at No. 3 doubles, 6-3, only to have Donovan and fellow junior Corey Pang draw Cal Poly even after a 6-4 win over UW's Piers Foley and Enzo Sommer. With the doubles point tied at one apiece, the Huskies tandem of Jake Douglas and Wendell Watanabe defeated Auproux and sophomore Tim Tan, 7-5, to take a 1-0 lead.
UW's Sommer beat freshman Josh Ortlip in successive sets at No. 4 singles, 6-2, 6-1 and Sebastian Hawken downed Cal Poly sophomore Axel Damiens at No. 5, 6-3, 6-2 for a 3-0 advantage.
Washington's Jake Douglas – ranked 124th by the ITA coming into Friday's match – rolled past Pang at No. 3 in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 and after Stewart outlasted Auproux at No. 1, the Huskies led 5-0. After Shintani won for the Mustangs, Hakak's victory over Cal Poly's Donovan at No. 2 cemented the match triumph for the Huskies.
Cal Poly is scheduled to play Portland at 2 p.m. PT Saturday in Seattle to wrap up its Pacific Northwest two-match tour.
