Steffen Deetjen
Staff Writer

This past week, the Dons entered the West Coast Conference Championship at the Barnes Tennis center in San Diego as the No. 3 seed. 

On Thursday the Dons went up against No. 6 seed Loyola Marymount in the quarterfinal match. USF secured a spot in the semifinals with a victory over Loyola Marymount by a dominating score of 4-1. The Dons took the doubles points as the pairs of Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa and Thomas Takemoto and Vasco Valverde picked up their wins at the No.1 and No. 3 positions. The Dons sealed their victory over LMU by winning three singles matches. Saraiva brought the Dons ahead of the Lions by a point through his singles play against Charles Boyce. After Saraiva’s 6-1 win in the first set against Boyce, Boyce was forced to retire mid-game due to a injury. Next up to earn the Dons another point was Thomas Takemoto. Takemoto scraped out a win through his match against Joat Farah; they played two tight sets, 6-3 and 7-5. Senior James Tallman followed suit by bringing yet another victory to the Dons in his match against Felix Van Kann and finalized USF’s victory over LMU. With the win over LMU, the Dons expected to meet No. 1 seed Pepperdine in the semifinals.

The following day the Dons continued the WCC tournament against No.1 seed Pepperdine. Unfortunately USF was unable to keep up their momentum from Thursday’s match as the Waves crushed USF 4-1. San Francisco concluded its season with a 15-8 record and finished 3rd in the WCC. The Dons couldn’t find any wins in doubles play giving the Waves a point over USF. Duo James Tallman and Christian Brockstedt came close in their match against players Lautaro Pane and Pedro Lamachkine but fell in two games. Furthering the point deficit for the Dons, Pepperdine won the No. 3 and No. 6 matches giving the Waves a three point lead. Bernardo Saravia took charge by winning his two-set match against Guilherme Hadlich 7-5, 6-0. However, to the Don’s disappointment, Saravia’s win was not enough to build momentum for the others. Last to play in singles was Thomas Takemoto; he played tough hoping for a comeback but ultimately came up short 2-6, 7-5 and 0-6.

USF heads into the offseason ending this season with a loss in the semifinals. The men’s team looks forward to next Spring with high hopes and eyes set on a WCC championship.