Men's Tennis 3/4/2017 12:00:00 AM

Gauchos Sail Past LMU 7-0

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- In their first home game of the season the UCSB Men's Tennis team swept Loyola Marymount Saturday afternoon with a score of 7-0. Avenging a 4-3 loss to No. 7 Cal last week and a 4-3 defeat at LMU last year, the Gauchos roll into their match Sunday against No. 21 Oregon with a record of 6-2 and 1-0 in conference.

"Our guys got off to a good start and we kept the pedal to the medal so to speak," said Head Coach Marty Davis. "There was no let up in us and that was really important because [LMU] is a team that will fight and has made things difficult for us in the past. I was really happy that we were able to play well enough to get ahead and once we were there that we didn't let up at all."

UCSB opened up the gates securing a doubles point as duos Nicolas Moreno/Anders Holm and No. 8 ranked Morgan Mays/Simon Freund defeated Alex Bourgeois/Lucas Moenter and Mat Kaiser/Nick Borchenko both with a score of 6-3. Santa Barbara is undefeated this season when clinching a doubles point taking seven out of it's last eight double's matches, the only time failing to do so against Cal.

Already in rhythm from his double's match, Nicolas Moreno de Alboran set the tone for the Gauchos on Court 2 sweeping LMU's Mat Kaiser 6-0, 6-0. This was Moreno's first time this season not allowing a point in singles play. Learning from his 6-4, 6-1 loss to Berkeley's No. 20 ranked Florian Lakat, Moreno de Alboran states that a sense of focus and will to finish strong were primary components to his own success as well as his team's performance on Saturday.

"We were really pumped [against LMU] because we lost a close one last year when we had match point," said sophomore Nicolas Moreno de Alboran. "This year we came out of the blocks pretty intense and ready to battle. The energy from court to court was really good. We came out as a team and knew that we had to be focused to beat these guys and it was good for the end result."

Santa Barbara kept the pace going as Cody Rakela beat Luke Bohvslav 6-3, 6-3 and Anders Holm edged out Gabriel Diaz-Freire with a 6-4, 6-1 finish. The two are currently on a four-game winning streak in singles play dating back to their 6-1 victory over Fresno State Feb. 12.

With Chase Masciorini's 6-3, 6-3 win over Alex Bourgeois tallying UCSB's score to 5-0, all eyes rested once again on the tandem of Mays and Freund to finish the game out.

Trailing early 4-6 to Moenter, Freund rallied back in the second set, winning 6-2, to tie the match up. From there, the LSU transfer carried his way to an 11-9 victory.

In arguably the most competitive match of the day, former Big West Athlete of the Week Morgan Mays was paired up against this past week's West Coast Conference Player of the Week Nick Borchenko. Following an early run in the first set from Borchenko, Mays was able to respond assembling a run of his own and eventually pulling out a 7-6 win. Mays was in full control from that point on taking the second match 6-2 and sending UCSB home with it's first victory of the weekend.

The Gauchos finish up their two-game homestand tomorrow against the No. 21 Oregon Ducks. Depending on weather conditions, first match is set for 1 p.m. at the UCSB RecCen Tennis Courts.

"We hope to carry this momentum into tomorrow," said Moreno. "Oregon is a good team with a bit of feistiness to them so we just want to keep that intensity and focus we had today for our match tomorrow."

UCSB 7, LMU 0

UCSB RecCen Tennis Courts- Santa Barbara, Calif.

March 4, 2017

Doubles

1. Morgan Mays/Simon Freund (UCSB) def. Nick Borchenko/Mat Kaiser (LMU), 6-3

2. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran/Anders Holm (UCSB) def. Alex Bourgois/Lukas Moenter (LMU), 6-3

3. Cody Rakela/Kristian Prior (UCSB) vs. Ryan Brown/Luke Bohvslav (LMU), 5-4 (unfinished)

Order of Finish: 2,1*

*Clinched Doubles point

Singles

1. Morgan Mays (UCSB) def. Nick Borchenko (LMU) 7-6, 6-2

2. Nicolas Moreno (UCSB) def. Mat Kaiser (LMU) 6-0, 6-0