DENVER – The University of Denver men's tennis team (1-0, 0-0 Summit) opened its 2025 campaign with a 5-2 victory over UC Davis at Denver Tennis Park on Friday afternoon.
 
DU breezed through doubles to earn the first point of the day before winning the first three singles matches to clinch the team win. Denver added another win in singles to extend its point total to five on the day.

Coach's Notes:
From head coach Drew Eberly: "I'm very excited to open the season with a win and also very excited to get matches started with our new team. We've got a lot of fresh faces who are very eager to get out there. They did a great job against a very good UC Davis team. [UCD head coach Eric Stiedlmayer] does a very good job with their program. They fight hard.

"I thought we did a good job in doubles, coming out with energy and playing our brand of doubles. There were a couple of spots to put some points up on the board early, but there were also a couple of areas that were a little off and need to be cleaned up for tomorrow against Air Force. Air Force is very good and extremely well coached. We'll have our hands full. We're looking forward to two more matches this weekend and excited to get the 'W.'"
 
Doubles:
DU opened play with a strong performance in doubles, capturing the point with wins in the Nos. 2 and 3 matches within two minutes of each other. In his first collegiate dual match, freshman Theo Coats earned a 6-1 win in the No. 3 doubles match with partner senior Daniel Sancho Arbizu, breaking in consecutive return games midway through play.
 
The junior duo of Raffaello Papajcik and Ryoma Mishiro clinched the point for DU on Court 2, starting with breaks in their first two return games. Their opponents from UC Davis got one break back, but Papajcik/Mishiro reclaimed the two break lead on their way to a 6-2 win.
 
The top doubles match featuring DU's team of graduate student Connor Robb-Wilcox and senior Rikuto Yamaguchi were serving for the match up 30-0 at 5-2 when the doubles point was clinched.
 
Singles:
Fresh off a highly-successful fall season, Sancho Arbizu kicked off his senior-year dual season by dropping only two games in his first singles match of the new year. He jumped out to a 4-0 lead before giving one of the breaks back for 4-2. He immediately reclaimed a two-break lead in the seventh game and served out the set at 6-2. To win the second set in a bagel and secure the win, he won 24 of the set's 34 points including going 7-for-7 on second-serve return points.
 
Yamaguchi put DU within a point of the team win with his straight-set victory at No. 3 singles. After both players held in their opening service games, the Denver senior rattled off five consecutive games to take the first set, 6-1. He won another two games to start the second set before UC Davis got on the board again. The second set stayed closer than the first with traded breaks until Yamaguchi jumped ahead, 5-3, and served out the match.
 
Denver newcomer Robb-Wilcox clinched the win for DU in two sets at No. 6 singles. He earned the first break of the match in his second return game and stretched his lead to 5-2. His opponent got one break back to get to 5-4, but the DU graduate student broke again in the set's final game for 6-4. He opened the second set with a break on his first opportunity before again building the lead to 5-2 and eventually served it out, 6-3.
 
Another DU newcomer, freshman Samuel Rovai, earned a fifth point for the team in his first collegiate dual match. In the No. 4 singles slot, he rallied back from an early break down in the opening set, winning four straight games and gaining a break lead at 5-4 before serving it out. He again found himself down a break at the start of the second set but fought back to get to 4-all. Both players held serve through to the tiebreak, which saw Rovai up, 4-2, at the changeover. He won three of the final four points to take it, 7-3.
 
UC Davis claimed the final two matches at Nos. 2 and 5 singles, closing out play with a 10-point match tiebreak in the No. 2 match.
 
Up Next:
The University of Denver men's tennis team continues its opening weekend at Denver Tennis Park when it plays Air Force on Saturday, January 18, at 5 p.m. MT.
 
Denver's Home for College Sports
Visit DenverPioneers.com for complete coverage of all 18 of DU's NCAA Division I sports
Like Denver Pioneers and Denver Men's Tennis on Facebook
Follow @DU_Pioneers and @DU_MTennis on Twitter
Follow @DenverPioneers and @DU_MTennis on Instagram