CSU Long Beach Scrimmage
UCSD traveled to CSU Long Beach to compete in a 4 school scrimmage over the weekend of December 4th. Two teams were sent to compete in the final event for the calendar year, and spirits were high as the team got to take a break from the rigors of finals week. After 10 weeks together, the team had forged a cohesive bond and everyone played their part in each match.
The first match saw us start the day against CSU Long Beach B, who looked to ride the home advantage. Our doubles pairs were veterans Fred Lin and Kailash Venkatraman on the men’s side, and Serena Ko and Tiffany Hyunh on the women's side. This was Kailash's 5th year on the first team and his experience was apparent, as he put in a flawless display of skill and touch to guide the pair to a comfortable win. Serena and Tiffany, who know each other's games inside out, played a nail biting match against a strong pair but came up just short in a tiebreaker. In the singles matchups, Aditya Goyal dusted off his shoes to put in a patient dismantling of his hard-hitting opponent. Sisi Leong, a team favourite and extremely talented player endured a tough opening match against a very crafty opponent. All eyes were on the mixed doubles pair of Abhishek Anish and Alyson Hirota as they played their first match together. Their hard hitting and efficient display left nothing to chance against a strong Long Beach pair, and sealed the first win for UCSD.
In the next round, we came up against a familiar opponent in SDSU B, who had just attended a scrimmage on our campus a few weekends ago. Our doubles pairs remained the same for this encounter but swapped their outcomes. Kailash and Fred played a long and tough match, and even their usual precision and experience was unable to find a breakthrough against a solid pair. Serena and Tiffany, unfazed by the tough first loss, put in an efficient and dominant display to erase the deficit. In the singles matchups, Aditya held his ground and put in a grinding set of tennis, but was just shy of securing the win. Aubrie Weissbuch, a veteran of the TOC tournaments and a new transfer on our team, showed her composure and skill to post her first win for UCSD. It came down to the mixed doubles again, but Abhishek and Alyson showed no signs of slowing their momentum as their powerful and tactful tennis was too strong in the end for the SDSU pair, and secured an important win against our rivals (and friends)!
In our final match of the scrimmage against CSU Fullerton, UCSD was riding the wave and even a few experimental changes in pairings worked effectively. Abhishek and Kailash teamed up to put a combination of power and touch to good use to dominate their doubles match. It was a similar story on the women's side, with Alyson and Serena showing their vast tournament experience and mentality to post an encouraging win. Aubrie continued her strong start to life at UCSD, and dominated her second singles match against a tricky opponent. Alex Ko, coming into his own as captain this year, put in a strong and fearless display against a very strong opponent. Although on the wrong side of the result, Alex showed his class and potential to be a reliable singles player. Onto the mixed doubles, Tiffany and Fred teamed up for the first time in a thrilling encounter that saw them use their high tennis IQ and consistency to calmly dismantle the strong Fullerton pair and wrap up a very successful day out for the Tritons!