SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – After a long break from its last match, the No. 51 UCSB Men's Tennis team fell 4-3 to visiting Boise State in a hard fought match on Wednesday afternoon. The deciding point came down to the last set of the final match on court four.
The match was a tight race from the very beginning as the Gauchos just escaped with the doubles points after dodging multiple match points for the Broncos.
Junior co-captain Morgan Mays and senior Andrew Riminton found the only one-sided victory as they defeated the team of Brian Foley and Pedro Platzeck 6-2 on court three. The Gauchos needed just one more match to clinch doubles following this win.
Court two was the next to finish as the freshmen team of Anders Holm and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran battled with Lewis Roskilly and Thomas Tenreiro but eventually fell 7-6(7-5). The Gauchos held their ground to force the tiebreaker by winning several straight match points against this Broncos duo.
The deciding match came down to court one where the nation's 34th best doubles team, in seniors Nathan Eshmade and Miles Seemann, found themselves trailing late to Boise State's Toby Mitchell and Kyle Butters. Despite facing a match point down 5-4, the Gauchos would win out to seal the doubles point with a 7-5 win. Santa Barbara would head into singles play up 1-0.
The Gauchos caught a couple of quick matches on the lower courts to put themselves up 3-0. Sophomore Cody Rakela won in straight sets on court five defeating Platzeck 6-2, 6-3. Freshman Oliver Sec would follow on court six with a 7-6 (6-4) win over Abe Hewko. Santa Barbara was in need of just one more singles win to seal the overall win.
With their backs against the wall, the Broncos grinded out three solid victories on the upper courts including a three-set win and two sweeps with multiple tiebreaker wins over the Gauchos. The team's valiant efforts iced the match at 3-3 and the final match would fall on the shoulders of Freshman Anders Holm and Boise State's Kyle Butters on court four.
In the longest match of the day all three sets were decided in a break as both players registered at least six games in each set. Holm took the first set battling to a 7-3 win in the break, but Butters would answer taking the second with a 7-5 breaker win of his own. The match came down to the final set where Holm fell behind early, but would not quit, as he played nearly perfect to tie it at 6-6.
In the end, Butters would emerge as the victor with very strong play in the break as he defeated Holm 7-3 to clinch the match for the Broncos.
The Gauchos will look to bounce back with two matches this weekend, as they will head south on Friday afternoon to face LMU before coming back to Santa Barbara to take on Denver on Sunday morning.
Final Match Results
Mar 23, 2016
Boise State 4, #51 UC Santa Barbara 3
Singles
1. Brian Foley (BSU) def. Nathan Eshmade (UCSB) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
2. Thomas Tenreiro (BSU) def. Nicolas Moreno (UCSB) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (8-6)
3. Toby Mitchell (BSU) def. Morgan Mays (UCSB) 1-6, 6-4, 6-1
4. Kyle Butters (BSU) def. Anders Holm (UCSB) 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (5-7), 7-6 (7-3)
5. Cody Rakela (UCSB) def. Pedro Platzeck (BSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Oliver Sec (UCSB) def. Abe Hewko (BSU) 7-6 (6-4), 6-4
Order of Finish (5,6,3,1,2,4)
Doubles
1. #34 Nathan Eshmade/Miles Seemann (UCSB) def. Toby Mitchell/Kyle Butters (BSU) 7-5
2. Lewis Roskilly/Thomas Tenreiro (BSU) def. Nicolas Moreno/Anders Holm (UCSB) 7-6 (7-5)
3. Morgan Mays/Andrew Riminton (UCSB) def. Brian Foley/Pedro Platzeck (BSU) 6-2
Order of finish (3,2,1)
