INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – The No. 3 seeded Gauchos downed the No. 6 Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, 4-0 in Indian Wells on Thursday to advance to a Big West semifinals showdown against No. 2 UC Davis on Friday. In the 4-0 win, UC Santa Barbara seized the momentum with a big victory in doubles and strong play in singles to triumph against Hawaii.
With the win, the Gauchos improve to 13-9 on the dual match season while Hawaii ends its season at 6-14.
In doubles, seniors Tobias Galskov and Ziad Sultan started the match with a 6-3 victory over Nils Schuhmann and Joakim Pinola at the No. 2 slot to but Hawaii countered back with a 7-5 victory at No. 3 doubles to tie up the doubles competition. The doubles point came down to No. 1 doubles, where junior Nathan Eshmade and sophomore Erik Johnsson defeated Marcel Chan and Carter Lam 6-4 to earn the 1-0 lead for UCSB.
The Gauchos never relinquished the lead after their win in doubles and cruised to a 4-0 triumph to advance to the second round.
In singles play, the bottom half of the lineup got the job done for the Gauchos with all three wins coming from No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 singles.
Sophomore Teague Hamilton was first off the court after routing Joakim Pinola 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 6 slot to earn a 2-0 lead for UCSB. Hamilton, winner of his last five singles matches, improved his record at the final singles spot to 10-0 on the season.
At the No. 4 spot, freshman Cody Rakela provided the third Gauchos point of the match after downing Felix Albert 6-3, 6-4 to win his 14th dual match and 20th overall.
UCSB ended Hawaii's Big West Championship hopes after Erik Johnsson clinched the victory at No. 5 singles with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Marcel Chan to improve his dual match record to 10-3.
Play was suspended at all other courts after the Gauchos captured the 4-0 win.
The No. 3 seeded Gauchos will now move on to face second seeded UC Davis in the Big West Tournament semifinals.
UC Davis earned a share of the Big West regular season title, the first in their program's history, and a first round bye in the tournament after finishing their season 16-5 (4-1 in Big West). The Aggies also finished the regular season ranked No. 57 in the nation according to the ITA National Rankings.
UC Davis is led by sophomores James Wade and Alec Adamson, who have shared time at No. 1 and No. 2 singles. Wade has compiled a 14-5 dual record (24-10 overall) while Adamson currently stands at 11-9 (18-13 overall). In doubles, the Aggies have won the doubles point in 13 of their 21 matches and are a perfect 13-0 when taking the 1-0 lead. Alec Adamson and Adam Levie lead the Aggies with a 9-9 mark at No. 1 doubles.
In the regular season meeting between UCSB and UC Davis, the Aggies won the doubles point and fought off triple match point in the final singles match to edge the Gauchos in a 4-3 decision.
The Gauchos will look to even their record against the Aggies this season with a win tomorrow in the Big West semifinals.
The winner of the match with face either No. 1 UC Irvine or No. 4 Cal Poly, who advanced to the semifinals with a 4-0 win against UC Riverside, in the conference finals.
The Gauchos will battle the Aggies for a spot in the Big West Championship finals beginning at 3PM on Friday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Follow the Gauchos on Twitter @UCSBTennis.
No. 3 UCSB (4), No. 6 Hawaii (0)
April 23, 2014
Indian Wells Tennis Garden (Indian Wells, Calif.)
Doubles
1. Nathan Eshmade/Erik Johnsson (UCSB) def. Marcel Chan/Carter Lam (UH) 6-4
2. Tobias Galskov/Ziad Sultan (UCSB) def. Nils Schuhmann/Joakim Pinola (UH) 6-3
3. Felix Albert/Chas Okamoto (UH) def. Morgan Mays/Andrew Riminton (UCSB) 7-5
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. Tobias Galskov (UCSB) vs. Nils Schuhmann (UH) DNF
2. Nathan Eshmade (UCSB) vs. Chas Okamoto (UH) DNF
3. Morgan Mays (UCSB) vs. Carter Lam (UH) DNF
4. Cody Rakela (UCSB) def. Felix Albert (UH) 6-3, 6-4
5. Erik Johnsson (UCSB) def. Marcel Chan (UH) 6-3, 6-4
6. Teague Hamilton (UCSB) def. Joakim Pinola (UH) 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 6, 4, 5
UCSB Season Record: 13-9
Hawaii Season Record: 6-14
Tournament Schedule
First Round: April 23
No. 3 UC Santa Barbara def. No. 6 Hawaii, 4-0
No. 4 Cal Poly def. No. 5 UC Riverside, 4-0
Semifinals: April 24
No. 1 UC Irvine vs. No. 4 Cal Poly (3:00 PM)
No. 2 UC Davis vs. No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (3:00 PM)
Championships: April 26
Semifinal winners (9:00 AM)
