Riverside, Calif.— The UC Riverside Men's Tennis Team (14-14) will compete in four dual matches this week as the Highlanders will face Hope International (6-11) at home on Wednesday and UC Irvine (13-10) on the road Friday, before returning home Sunday for doubleheader with UC Santa Barbara (12-6) and Arizona Christian (16-5).
LAST MATCH
The Highlanders fell in their last dual match on the road 4-0- to Pepperdine, but have won 10 of their last 14 matches taking two 7-0 wins over Concordia Irvine and Hampton and a dominant 9-0 win over Methodist.
W's
UCR's 14 dual match wins ties the Division I program record for most in a season, which was set last year. The Highlanders have six more matches left in their regular season to get the record setting victory.
FRESHMAN PHENOM
Freshman
Vignesh Subramanyan has already had positive impact on the team in just his first year as a Highlander. Subramanayn is tied for most singles wins on the team boasting a 19-4 record and has been a lock on court six winning 15 out of 18 matches.
McCANN's THE MAN
Last week, junior
Kyle McCann collected his second career Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week honor following a productive east coast roadtrip. UCR has now taken the weekly honors three times this season.
McCann helped the Highlanders to a 5-1 record on the trip that resulted in wins over North Carolina A&T, Methodist, Hampton, Norfolk State and North Carolina Central.
Playing between No. 2 and No. 3 singles, McCann reeled off six straight singles victories, including four in three sets. He had a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Norfolk State's Flavian Fernandez in a 4-3 team triumph.
WIth partner
Filip Engstrom at No. 2 doubles, McCann registered a 5-1 record. They eked out a 7-6 (4) win over North Carolina Central's Gabriel Cucalon and Sebastian Bromley.
PAWEL CAN BALL
After leading the team to a 3-0 mark in early March, freshman
Pawel Jankowiak was named Big West Player of the Week for the first time in his career.
Jankowiak notched six victories in singles and doubles playing court one in every match for the Highlanders.
The freshman defeated his first two opponents in straight sets topping Youngstown State's Joao Garretto (6-3, 6-3) and Boston University's Satyajit Simhad (6-1, 6-1). He then overcame a first set deficit to upend Villanova's Stefan Suarez by scores of 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 to secure his spot as the No. 1 player in UCR's singles lineup.
With doubles partner,
Vignesh Subramanyan, Jankowiak also went 3-0 at No. 1 doubles. The freshman duo toppled Villanova's Thomas Dodson and Tyler Roth, 6-2.
RAQUETS? OR BROOMS?
Six of UC Riverside's wins this season have been perfect sweeps in which the team won the doubles point and all six singles matches. Five of UCR's sweeps were 7-0 wins over Hope International, Westmont, Biola, Concordia Irvine, and Hampton. The team's most recent sweep was a 9-0 win over Methodist.
NABIL IS REAL
Nabil Abdallah was named Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week for his play against Westmont and UC San Diego on Saturday, January 27 (
Recap). The sophomore is currently 19-9 in singles play, which is tied for f1st on the team, and holds a 12-4 doubles record with partner
Anderson Ju, which ranks 2nd.
NEW YEAR, NEW RECORD
Head Coach
Mattias Johansson returns for his third season with the Highlanders. In his first year, the Highlanders won a Division I program record 13 matches, went 10-5 at home, and saw seniors Julian Ruffin and Sean Robles named All-Conference Honorable Mention. In Johansson's second year at UC Riverside, the Highlanders set a new Division I program record with 14 match wins and went 9-7 at home.
