SAN FRANCISCO -- The University of men's tennis team faced UC Irvine in its first home match of the season at the Cal Club on Friday afternoon. In a close match, the Dons fell 3-4 to the Anteaters.

"It was a tough loss," said head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida. "Everything looked good [at one point], but then UC Irvine came back and fought hard. [The Anteaters] were able to convert on deuce points in all positions and did a better job than [the Dons] on the close moments. It was a good battle, but we ended up losing."

The Dons opened the match strong securing the doubles point. After Paul Giraud and Oliver Poysti fell in their double match 2-6, Mert Zincirli and Johan Joenhagen came back with a 6-3 win. Lucas Marinelli and Ryan Marker sealed the deal with a 6-4 win to give the Dons the lead.

In singles, USF got a quick 6-2, 6-3 win from Giraud. Marco Barretto (6-3, 6-4) and Zincirli (6-4, 7-5) fell in their matches, making it an even score of 2-2 for both teams. The Dons fell behind when Marker dropped his match in the third set
4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Poysti came back for his team with a  6-3, 7-6 tiebreaker win, but Joenhagen finished his match with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 loss for the Dons.

Doubles (order of finish: 2,1,3)

1. Zincirli and Joenhagen def. Luca Marquard and Mason Hansen; 6-3
2. Daniel Gealer and Luis Lopez def. Giraud and Poysti; 6-2
3. Marinelli and Marker def. Vatsal Bajpai and Bruce Man-Son-Hing; 6-4

Singles (order of finish: 5,6,1,4,3,2)

1. Lopez def. Zincirli; 6-4, 7-5
2. Marquard def. Joenhagen; 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
3. Poysti def. Sasha Krasnov; 6-3, 7-6
4. Bajpai def. Marker; 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Giraud def. Gealer; 6-2, 6-3
6. Man-Son-Hing def. Marco Barretto; 6-3, 6-4

UP NEXT
The Dons are on the road starting Saturday, Mar. 3-4 in Albuquerque, N.M. for the Mountain Pacific Invitational.