Cal Poly Men’s Tennis Opens Big West Tournament Saturday As No. 1 Seed

Saturday, May 1

Irvine, CA

12 P.M.

Hawai'i

Photo by: Owen Main

Cal Poly Men’s Tennis Opens Big West Tournament Saturday As No. 1 Seed

4/28/2021 4:57:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Irvine, Calif. — After going undefeated through conference play on its way to winning its first Big West regular season title since 2013, the Cal Poly men's tennis team will head to Irvine this weekend for the Big West Tournament.

The Mustangs, who enter the tournament having won nine straight matches, are the No. 1 seed and have a first-round bye putting them in the semifinals. On Saturday at 12 p.m., Cal Poly will face the winner of No. 4 seed Hawai'i and No. 5 seed UC Davis at Orange County Great Park. If they win that match, they would advance to the championship match on Sunday at 12 p.m.

The Mustangs will be seeking their first Big West Tournament title since 2014 when they won it as the No. 2 seed. Cal Poly has reached the championship match five of the last six tournaments.

Cal Poly has had a number of guys play well this season that played big roles in helping the team capture the regular season title. In singles, Alex Stater leads the team with a team-best 12-4 record at the No. 1 spot. Also having strong singles seasons are Fernando Fonseca at 12-7, Joe Leather at 11-7, Gary Vardanyan at 10-6, and Noah Berry at 9-6.

In doubles, the Mustangs have been led by Stater and Vardanyan, who are a team-best 9-2 at the No. 3 spot. Meanwhile, the No. 2 pairing of Andrew Whitehouse and Roman Shenkiryk are 5-3.

After starting the season 4-7, the Mustangs won their final nine matches of the regular season, including winning all six of their Big West matches and have not lost since March 7.