UC Davis men blank Hawaii to reach Big West semis

Brett Bacharach, a senior from Newcastle in the Sacramento
area, clinched UC Davis' 4-0 victory over Hawaii today.
2014 photo by Paul Bauman

   No. 3 seed UC Davis rolled to a 4-0 victory over No. 6 Hawaii today in the first round of the Big West Conference Men's Championship in Indian Wells, Calif.

   The Aggies, ranked 70th nationally, set a Division I program record with their 17th victory (against six losses) and reached the Big West semifinals for the third straight year. Hawaii ended its season at 1-17.

   Everett Maltby, a sophomore from Sunnyvale in the San Francisco Bay Area, crushed Nikolai Storch 6-0, 6-0 on Court 5 to give UC Davis a 2-0 lead.

   After James Wade coasted 6-1, 6-1 on Court 2, senior Brett Bacharach from Newcastle in the Sacramento region provided the clincher with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Marcel Chan on Court 3.   

   UC Davis will try to reach the Big West final for the first time when it faces No. 2 seed Cal Poly (13-0) on Thursday at 3 p.m. In the only meeting between the school this season, the Mustangs prevailed 4-3 on April 16 in San Luis Obispo.

   No. 1 UC Santa Barbara (15-6), the defending champion, will play No. 4 UC Irvine (17-8) in the other semifinal.

   UCSB and Cal Poly received first-round byes.
   The No. 7-seeded UC Davis women (10-11) will take on No. 2 UC Santa Barbara (15-7) on Thursday in the Big West quarterfinals in Indian Wells. Both teams have first-round byes.