SAN ANTONIO (Feb. 4, 2023) — The UC Santa Barbara men's tennis team continued their white-hot start to the season on Saturday, taking down the University of New Orleans Privateers, 5-2, to win their sixth straight dual match. The Gauchos will play this weekend's hosts, UTSA, Sunday morning to round out the road trip.
INSIDE THE MATCH
Final: UC Santa Barbara 5, New Orleans 2
Records: UC Santa Barbara 6-0 (0-0 Big West), New Orleans 1-2 (0-0 Southland)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The action on all three doubles courts was close, but all favored New Orleans, putting the Gauchos behind on the scoreboard for only the second time all season. But a 1-0 lead would not be enough for the Privateers, and UCSB roared back in singles play. Phillip Jordan and Pablo Masjuan won their matches on courts one and two in straight sets, and their teammates gutted out three more wins across the next three courts to clinch victory. Gianluca Brunkow bounced back after losing a second-set tiebreaker to win on court three, as did Luka Mrsic on court five. Kai Brady nearly made it a clean six wins from six in singles, but lost the decisive third set on court six, 7-6, after a 22-point tiebreaker.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. Espen Lagarde/Marcel Volz (UNO) def. Phillip Jordan/Kai Brady (UCSB), 7-5
2. Max Heinzel/Luke Joujan (UNO) def. Gianluca Brunkow/Alexander Watanabe Eriksson (UCSB), 6-4
3. Matthew Armbruster/Karim Al-Amin (UNO) def. Pablo Masjuan/Luka Mrsic (UCSB), 7-6 (7-4)
Singles
1. Phillip Jordan (UCSB) def. Marcel Volz (UNO), 6-2, 6-4
2. #77 Pablo Masjuan (UCSB) def. Max Heinzel (UNO), 6-2, 7-5
3. Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB) def. Karim Al-Amin (UNO), 6-3, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3
4. Lucca Liu (UCSB) def. Espen Lagarde (UNO), 6-1, 4-6, 6-1
5. Luka Mrsic (UCSB) def. Matthew Armbruster (UNO), 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3
6. Luke Joujan (UNO) def. Kai Brady (UCSB), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (12-10)
UP NEXT
UCSB will round out this trip to Texas on Sunday, as the Gauchos take on the hosting UTSA Roadrunners. First serve is set for 9 a.m. Pacific from the UTSA Tennis Center in San Antonio.
