This past weekend, we sent two teams to compete at USD in the 1st annual USD Tournament. This tournament was extremely casual, as many southern California teams did not sent teams or their full rosters. In preparation for the tournament, we sent players who did not play in sectionals.

Day 1

UCSD A played in a pool of 3 teams, meaning that we played 2 other teams. The first match was against Cal Poly Pomona’s team. For women’s doubles, Melissa Tran and Mikaela McNally won their set 6-3. In men’s doubles, Alexander Loh and Seth Kim won 6-3. In women’s singles, Jessica Chen crushed her opponent 6-0, and Khoi Pham in men’s singles played a close set and lost 4-6. In mixed doubles, Sunny Gupta and McNally won their set 6-5 to close out the match 28-17. In the second round of pools, we played against SDSU B. Tran and Chen won their doubles set 6-2, and Kim and Gupta won their doubles set 6-0. In singles, Pham won 6-4, and McNally won his set 6-3. In mixed, Loh and Tran won the set 6-5, to close out the match 30-14.

For UCSD B, we played UCR A. In women’s doubles, Tina Mai and Esra Elhendy won 6-1. In men’s doubles, Allen Gao and Darren Ly lost a tough set 2-6. Mai lost in women’s singles 1-6, and Gao won a great set 6-1 in men’s singles. In mixed, Sharp and Elhendy lost a tough mixed set to end the match with an overall score of 20-15. In the next match, we played against ASU A, a very tough opponent. Mai and Elhendy, as well as Gao and Ly, lost 2-6 in both of the doubles sets. In singles, Mai lost 1-6, and Nick Garza lost 2-6. In mixed, it was a tough set, in which Sharp and Elhendy lost 5-6. In the last match, we played against CSUN A. Gao and Garza won their set 6-1, and Mai and Elhendy won their doubles set 6-0. In singles, Ly won his set 6-3, and Mai won her set 6-3 as well. Finally, in mixed, Sharp and Elhendy won 6-2.

Day 2

In the brackets, UCSD A played against ASU A in the first round. Kim and Gupta won their doubles set 6-1, and Tran and McNally won their set 6-0. In singles, McNally and Loh lost both of their singles sets 2-6. Up 3 going into mixed, Loh and Tran closed out the set to win 6-4, beating ASU A. The second match was the finals against ASU B, ironically. With Kim and Gupta winning 6-3, and McNally and Tran winning 6-2, we were confident going into singles. Loh won his set 6-3, and McNally won her singles set 6-4 as well. Going into mixed, Kim and Tran paired up to dominate the mixed set 6-1, winning the tournament for UCSD A.

For UCSD B, they first faced Cal Poly Pomona. With Kendra Scheer and Mai playing women’s doubles, they won 6-2. Sharp and Ly lost a close 5-6 in men’s doubles. In singles, Scheer won her set 6-1, and Garza lost his set 3-6. In mixed, Sharp and Mai won the set 6-0 to close out the win for UCSD B. In the finals of that bracket, they faced UCR A, a rematch from the day before. Scheer and Mai won the set 6-2, and Ly and Sharp lost a close set 5-6. In singles, Scheer won 6-1 in a very convincing set, and Garza lost his set 6-3. Sharp and Mai lost the set 3-6 to go into overtime, in which they won the next game, securing the win for UCSD B.

Overall, this tournament was a great experience and everyone who played in it had a great time. Many players found it very refreshing due to its casual and friendly atmosphere, and we managed to walk away from the tournament with double wins.