PASADENA, Calif. — The No. 26 Caltech men's tennis team posted a brilliant performance on Saturday as the squad earned a commanding 9-0 home victory over the Tigers of Occidental College.

The Beavers earned their first team point of the day on Court 1 as seniors Kyle McCandless (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) and Daniel Wen (McLean, Va. / Thomas Jefferson HS for Science & Technology) cruised to an 8-1 victory. It is the seventh straight win for the seniors, who most recently ranked No. 2 among all Div. III doubles pairings in the region. The two now improve to 11-2 on the season.

Sophomore Andrew Zabelo (Florham Park, N.J. / Newark Academy) and first-year Tejas Ram (Allen, Texas / Allen) gave the squad its second win from the third position after nabbing an impressive 8-6 victory. The Caltech duo broke their opponents to go up at 2-1 and stayed ahead for the remainder of the duel.

The group made it three-in-a-row a few minutes later as rookie Eric He (Martinsville, N.J. / Bridgewater Raritan) and junior Aditya Srinivasan (Rochester, N.Y. / Pittsford Sutherland) posted a strong performance on Court 2. The two players played calmly at 6-7, winning key points to force a deciding tiebreaker. There, it was all-Caltech as the two jumped out to a 6-2 score before ultimately taking the tiebreaker to win the match, 8-7 (7-4).

Caltech added to their perfect day in singles action with all six Beavers winning their matches; collectively, the team won 12 of the 13 sets played.

Ram finished up first on Court 6 after earning a dominant 6-1, 6-3 win before He scored an exceptional 6-0, 6-2 victory on Court 5.

Wen clinched the team match on Court 4 after taking the first set 7-5 and cruising to the 6-0 win in the second.

Zabelo put Caltech up 6-0 after taking the first set 6-2 before falling in the second, 3-6; he won the superset tiebreaker, 1-0 (10-8).

McCandless – who last ranked No. 17 in the region – won his fourth straight as he defeated the opposing Tiger, 6-4, 7-5 in the first position. The standout climbed back from a 1-5 hole in the second set, winning six straight games to take the match.

First-year Constantin Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne (Paris / Lycée Jean de La Fontaine) made it a perfect 9-for-9 for the team after playing in an exhilarating match on Court 2. The rookie won the first set after storming back from a 2-5 deficit to force a tiebreaker where he won, 7-4. The first-year then posted another incredible comeback in the second, finding himself down 0-4 before winning six straight games to take the set 6-4 and win the match.

Head coach Adam Clark was happy with how the group performed against the SCIAC foe.

"What a great day for the guys," said Clark. "[It was the] first time for everyone on the team earning a sweep in a match. Things were definitely a bit trickier than the score might show but the guys did what was asked and just found a way to win," he said.

"We are fighting with everything we've got to extend our season and I think that was on full display today for everyone to see," said Clark. "I've said it before — this group is special and truly believes it can accomplish anything they set their mind to. [We are] ready for the next one — let's go Tech!"

Caltech will now turn its attention towards the No. 30 University of Redlands Bulldogs; the two teams face off this Friday, Apr. 19 at 5 p.m. It is the Beavers' penultimate road matchup of the regular season. Follow the action online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

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