SAN DIEGGO, Calif. – The No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara men's tennis team fell 4-2 to No. 3 UC Irvine Sunday morning at the Barnes Tennis Center. The loss ends the Gauchos' (17-6, 5-1) historic run of six consecutive Big West Championships. The Anteaters claimed huge wins over No. 6 UC Davis, No. 2 Cal Poly, and top-seeded Santa Barbara to earn their 15th Big West crown.
How it Happened
- Stefano Tsorotiotis and Gianluca Brunkow started things off on the right foot for the Gauchos, locking down a 6-3 win over Lawee Sherif and Ali Amiri on doubles court three
- Irvine then evened things up as Pablo Masjuan and Victor Krustev fell 6-1 to Riccardo Roberto and Matthew Sah on court two
- The doubles point came down to court one, where Phillip Jordan and Kai Brady were victorious over Emmanuel Coste and Noah Zamora, winning 6-4 and clinching the doubles point for UCSB
- The first singles matchup to end went to Santa Barbara as Brunkow beat Sherif 6-4, 6-4 on court five and put the Gauchos up 2-0
- Things didn't go the UCSB's way the rest of the match though, as the Anteaters won four matchups to secure the Big West championship
- On court six, Rithvik Krishna beat Pierre Boullenger 6-4, 6-4, and on court four, Mike Mkrtchian took down Brady 6-4, 0-6, 7-6(4) to tie the match at two points apiece
- The Anteaters then earned their third point when Zamora finished off a 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(4) win over Krustev on court two
- The match was decided by Coste's 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 court one defeat of Jordan, clinching the championship for UCI
Next Up
The Gauchos will hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament which will be decided during the selection show on Monday.
