SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Gauchos rolled past UC Riverside on Saturday afternoon to open up conference play with a victory. UCSB claimed the doubles point and won five out of six singles matches en route to the 6-1 win at home.
The Gauchos improved to 8-8 overall (1-0 Big West) and 6-1 at home while UC Riverside dropped to 3-16 on the season and 0-2 in Big West play.
The match began in doubles with all three Gaucho pairs recording victories. At court 1, Mbonisi Ndimande/Ziad Sultan defeated UCR duo Roberts/Vizcarra 8-7. Benjamin Recknagel/Axel Bouillin collected an 8-4 win against Griffin/Ruffin at the No. 2 position and Andrew Riminton/Miles Seemann beat Gastao/Ngo 8-4 to clinch the doubles point for the Gauchos.
UCSB continued its strong play, winning all but one of the singles matches. Miles Seemann was first off the court with a quick 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kelly Dickson at court 6 to help UCSB jump out to a 2-0 lead. Freshman Andrew Riminton moved up to court 5, where he defeated UCR's Kevin Griffin 6-4, 6-0 and senior Benjamin Recknagel recorded a win against Luis Gastao 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 2 position to make the score 4-0 and clinch the victory for the Gauchos.
Senior Mbonisi Ndimande added a win at court 1, defeating Jimmy Roberts 6-1, 6-2 and sophomore Axel Bouillin extended his winning streak to 7 with a victory against Julian Ruin in the tie-breaker 3-6, 7-6, (12-10) at court 3.
Junior Sasha Gryaznov lost in a tight match at the No. 4 position to Calvin Ngo 7-6, 7-5.
UCSB continues conference play in the second half of their back-to-back home matches, hosting UC Irvine on Sunday. The Anteaters defeated #73 Cal Poly in the first game of their road trip, 4-3. Action is set to begin against Irvine at 1:00 PM (PST) at the Rec Cen Courts.
UCSB 6, UCR 1
DOUBLES
1. Ndimande/Sultan (UCSB) def. Roberts/Vizcarra (UCR) 8-7
2. Recknagel/Bouillin (UCSB) def. Griffin/Ruffin (UCR) 8-4
3. Riminton/Seemann (UCSB) def. Gastao/Ngo (UCR) 8-4
SINGLES
1. Mbonisi Ndimande (UCSB) def. Jimmy Roberts (UCR) 6-1, 6-2
2. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) def. Luis Gastao (UCR) 6-3, 6-3
3. Axel Bouillin (UCSB) def. Julian Ruffin (UCR) 3-6, 7-6, (12-10)
4. Calvin Ngo (UCR) def. Sasha Gryaznov (UCSB) 7-6, 7-5
5. Andrew Riminton (UCSB) def. Kevin Griffin (UCR) 6-4, 6-0
6. Miles Seemann (UCSB) def. Kelly Dickson (UCR) 6-1, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4
UCSB SEASON RECORD: 8-8; Big West 1-0
