DAVIS, Calif. – For the season opener, the Fresno Pacific men's tennis team faced a strong Division I test on the road Friday afternoon, taking on UC Davis at the Marya Welch Tennis Center. The Aggies secured a 4-0 victory, but the Sunbirds showed fight throughout the match with several competitive sets before play was halted once the team score was decided.

"Today was a great opportunity for our guys to get match experience against a quality UC Davis team," said head coach Sam Gaeddert. "I wanted to see how we would fight and deal with adversity, and I'm really pleased with the outcome as a whole. We played at a high level up and down the lineup and have a lot of positive takeaways. I'm excited to get back to practice and set our sights on the conference season. Congratulations and best of luck to coach Steidlmayer and his group of guys."

In singles action, Fresno Pacific competed deep into several matches. Cedric Kaufmann fought through a tight first set at the top spot before falling 6-4, 6-1. Emilio Seelbach and Angel España also faced tough opposition at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, respectively.

Multiple matches were left unfinished once UC Davis clinched the team victory, including Jordi Gonzalez trailing narrowly at 6-4, 3-2 in the fourth singles position, Felix Devallius tied 4-4 in the second set at No. 5, and Tim Bangert battling back in the second set at No. 6.

Doubles play opened next in the afternoon, where Fresno Pacific looked to gain more momentum. The No. 2 pairing of Emilio Seelbach and Jordi Gonzalez pushed UC Davis to a tiebreaker but ultimately fell 7-6 (7-2). At the No. 3 spot, Felix Devallius and Tim Bangert battled hard before dropping a 6-3 decision. The No. 1 doubles match featuring Cedric Kaufmann and Joaquin Salinas was locked at 6-6 when doubles play concluded.

NEXT UP: The Sunbirds head to Menlo College on Saturday, February 7. The time will be announced in the coming week.

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