LOS ANGELES – With a 6-3 victory over the Occidental Tigers on Saturday afternoon, the Caltech men's tennis team earned a second-place finish in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) standings for the first time in program history. 

The Beavers took to the courts at the McKinnon Family Tennis Center at Occidental College, just over seven miles away from Caltech, and opened the day with a commanding start by sweeping the doubles session. The duo of seniors Nathan Zou and Rishi Gundakaram struck first, racing to an 8-2 set win in Doubles #2 to put Caltech on the board. 

The remaining two doubles matches were tightly contested and required tiebreaks to settle them. Eventually the third flight wrapped up as juniors Ishaan Kannan and Andrei Staicu prevailed with a 7-4 breaker score. This left all eyes on Center Court as Occidental's regional No. 2 partnership of Matthew O'Connor and Seth Lipe dueled Caltech's pairing of junior Kyle McCandless and Daniel Wen. The Beavers finally ended it with a 9-7 tiebreak win, bringing Caltech just two match points away from the postseason. 

Oxy picked up the first match point of the ensuing singles session in the top flight, but Wen pushed back with a 7-5, 7-5 win on Court 3 to push Occidental to the brink. Wen's victory sealed a perfect 7-0 record in SCIAC singles play this season. 

Finally, it was Staicu on Court 6 who sealed the match, conceding his first set 3-6 before surging back with 6-1 and 6-3 scores. It was his first singles appearance of the 2023 season, and his victory gave Caltech the decisive fifth match point of the day. 

Junior Victor Li similarly rallied after a first set defeat to win his matchup 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, padding the Beavers' overall score. 

"It was an amazing effort from the men today," Head Coach Matt Brisotti remarked after the historic win. "We had to alter our lineup, but you don't have to get ready if you stay ready. We were able to cope with that well." 

Regarding the 3-3 split in the singles session, Brisotti noted all six matches had great intensity and effort, and the team looks to build upon that momentum as the conference semifinal awaits. 

By virtue of a 5-2 SCIAC record — the team's best tally since finishing third in 2018 — Caltech earned the right to home court advantage in the conference semifinal. Caltech will host the University of Redlands Bulldogs in a rematch of the Beavers' 5-4 win on April 4. Since Redlands finished with a 5-2 record, that road victory gave Caltech the head-to-head tiebreaker and the right to host.  

The date and time of next week's semifinal match will be announced as soon as all details are finalized. Follow the team on Instagram and Twitter.