THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Caltech Men's Tennis played its final road match of the 2024 regular season Saturday morning against the California Lutheran University Kingsmen, coming away with an 8-1 statement victory.
"What a long few days, but it sure does feel more sweet closing it out with a win," said Head Coach
Adam Clark, referring to Caltech's three-match week capped with two in less than 24 hours. "Guys had a quick turnaround today after a tough battle against Redlands and I think we answered the call well and had those extra bursts of energy when we needed them."
The Beavers picked up a quick match point in #2 Doubles as
Aditya Srinivasan and
Eric He cruised to an 8-2 win, and after the home team equalized in the top flight,
Tejas Ram and
Andrew Zabelo earned an 8-6 win on #3 to send the Beavers into the singles session leading two matches to one.
From then it was all Caltech en route to a singles sweep. Zabelo racked up a 4-1 advantage in #3 singles before his opponent retired due to injury. Senior
Daniel Wen followed with a clinical 6-2, 6-0 win on Court 4, bringing the Beavers one point away from the decision.
It was
Constantin Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne in second singles who clinched the dual match for Caltech, picking up momentum to win 6-4, 6-1 and then the Beavers kept going with match points in #5 and #6. E. He survived a late surge by his opponent to win fifth singles 6-0, 7-5, and
Bharathan Sundar prevailed 6-4, 6-2 on Court 6.
Finally all eyes were on #1 as senior
Kyle McCandless recovered from a 4-6 first set loss with a 6-4 rebuttal in the second. With the match decided, he and his rival played a 10-point tiebreak, which required some additional points before McCandless pulled ahead by two to win 12-10.
"Above all else, I could see today that the guys just played with a ton of joy and that helped produce some really high-level tennis," said Coach Clark. "This group just genuinely enjoys being around each other and seeing each other succeed, and I think today was a masterclass in just that."
The Beavers will wrap up the 2024 regular season with their Senior Day match at home on Friday, April 26 at 3 p.m. against national No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.
