In the final match of Saturday’s nail-biting contest, the Dons pulled out a narrow victory against the UC Davis Aggies in Davis, Calif. on junior Rich Van Hout’s singles match win.
Van Hout dropped the first set 6-5 to his opponent Parker Kelly, but proceeded to take consecutive sets, 6-1 and 6-5, including a third-set tiebreaker, which he won 10-6. UC Davis fought to tie the overall score at 3-3 after wins from Alec Adamson and Bryce McKelvie on courtes two and six. The momentum seemed to be swinging in favor of the Aggies, but Van Hout made sure that it was too little too late for an Aggies team that has yet to win on the season.
Other highlights from the day’s match included victories for the USF duo of junior Bernardo Saraiva and sophomore Nils Skajaa, who won 6-4 in their doubles match. Senior Germain Bahri and sophomore Thomas Takemoto also took home a 6-4 doubles win against the Aggies’ Kelley and McKelvie.
Saraiva was also successful in singles, taking home a 6-3, 6-3 victory in straight sets. Redshirt junior James Tallman claimed a straight set victory as well, defeating his opponent James Wade 6-4, 6-3.
The score for the Dons’ game against Nevada on Monday, Feb. 3 at 11:00 a.m. was not available at press time. USF, which now stands at 1-1 on the season, will look to build upon their victory in Seattle on Friday, Feb. 7 when they face the Washington Huskies.
