SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- The No. 49 UCSB Men's Tennis team grabbed its third straight dual match win, dominating Big West foe UC Irvine 6-1. The Gauchos now improve to 12-6 overall and have won both of their conference matchups putting them at 2-0.
"Once we got the momentum in the doubles point, we were able to keep rolling from there," senior Nathan Eshmade said. "Everyone is really pulling together and we are really starting to get the team chemistry going."
The Gauchos took an early 1-0 lead with doubles wins on courts one and two, while court three was stopped at match point in Santa Barbara's favor.
The freshman duo of Nicolas Moreno de Alboran and Anders Holm took the first win on court two, defeating Tyler Pham and Jonathan Hammel 6-4. The nation's No. 36 doubles teams of Miles Seemann and Eshmade added another win to the season and sealed the doubles point defeating Justin Agbayani and Jonathan Poon 6-2 on court one.
Santa Barbara continued its momentum in the singles round winning the first three matches to clinch a 4-0 win over the Anteaters. Junior Teague Hamilton, sophomore Cody Rakela, and Moreno de Alboran all took straight set wins to give the Gauchos their 12th win of the dual match season.
The two teams decided to play out the match and Santa Barbara would take two of the final three matches, one of which proved to be a huge win for the Gauchos.
Eshmade played on court one and faced the Big West Conference's top ranked singles player in No. 78 Sebastian Heim. The senior Gaucho grabbed the first set of the match but Heim stole the second and the two would decide the match in an eight-point set. The two players grinded to several extra points and each held match points. Finally, Eshmade emerged victorious with an overall win of 6-2, 3-6, 17-15.
Junior Co-Captain Morgan Mays found himself in a similar situation on court three facing Luca Marquad. Both players played to extra points in the third set decider and again the Gauchos would prevail as Mays defeated his opponent 6-3, 5-7, 12-10.
"Hopefully we can take this win and keep going through the Big West," Eshmade said. "We just always have to take it match by match and go from there."
The Gauchos will be back on the courts next weekend, as they will face UNLV in a makeup match on Saturday April 9th, 2016. The match is set to start at 2pm at the Rec Cen Courts.
Tennis Match Results
UC Irvine vs UC Santa Barbara
Apr 03, 2016 at UC Santa Barbara
(Rec Cen Courts)
#49 UC Santa Barbara 6, UC Irvine 1
Singles Round
1. Nathan Eshmade (UCSB) def. #78 Heim, Sebastian (UCI) 6-2, 3-6, 17-15
2. Nicolas Moreno (UCSB) def. Mertens, Nico (UCI) 6-2, 6-3
3. Morgan Mays (UCSB) def. Marquard, Luca (UCI) 6-3, 5-7, 12-10
4. Pham, Tyler (UCI) def. Anders Holm (UCSB) 1-6, 6-4, 6-3
5. Cody Rakela (UCSB) def. Agbayani, Justin (UCI) 6-2, 6-4
6. Teague Hamilton (UCSB) def. Bajpai, Vatsal (UCI) 6-2, 6-2
Doubles Round
1. #36 Nathan Eshmade/Miles Seemann (UCSB) def. Agbayani, Justin/Poon, Jonathan (UCI) 6-2
2. Nicolas Moreno/Anders Holm (UCSB) def. Pham, Tyler/Hammel, Jonathan (UCI) 6-4
3. Morgan Mays/Andrew Riminton (UCSB) vs. Mertens, Nico/Heim, Sebastian (UCI) 5-2, unfinished
Match Notes:
UC Santa Barbara 12-6; National ranking #49
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,5,2,4,1,3)
