MALIBU, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Men's Tennis team opened the season Sunday morning against No. 21 Michigan State. Unfortunately, the Gauchos were unable to overcome the Spartans' singles play and fell 5-2 in the 2024 season opener.

THE MATCH
Final: No. 21 Michigan State 5, UC Santa Barbara 2
Records: UC Santa Barbara 0-1, Michigan 3-0

HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Santa Barbara jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after capturing the doubles point. Gianluca Brunkow and Pablo Masjuan dominated their opponents to gain the early advantage. Michigan State pulled out a 7-5 victory on court two, but Conrad Brown and Luka Mrsic pulled out an impressive win on court three. Brown and Mrsic defeated their opponents 7-6 to give the Gauchos the doubles point.

Kai Brady opened singles play with a win on court five, winning in straight sets to extend the Gaucho lead 2-0. After going up 2-0, Michigan State rattled off five straight victories. All but one of the victories ended in straight sets. Pablo Masjuan played the sixth-ranked player in the country. After dropping set one he was able to take set two 6-4. In the penultimate set, Masjuan dropped the 10-point tiebreaker 10-7.

RESULTS
Doubles
1. #37 Brunkow/Masjuan (UCSB) def. Thanos/Alazmeh (MSU) 6-2
2. #41 Hohmann/Baris (MSU) def. Brady/Liu (UCSB) 7-5
3. Brown/Mrsic (UCSB) def. Collard/Lair (MSU) 7-6

Order of finish: 1, 2, 3

Singles
1. #6 Ozan Baris (MSU) def. #19 Pablo Masjuan (UCSB) 5-7, 6-4, 10-7
2. #12 Ronald Hohmann (MSU) def. Lucca Liu (UCSB) 6-2, 6-4
3. Aristotle's Thanos (MSU) def. Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB) 6-1, 6-3
4. Sebastien Collard (MSU) def. Luka Mrsic (UCSB) 6-2, 6-2
5. Kai Brady (UCSB) def. Taym Alazmeh (MSU) 6-4, 6-1
6. Max Sheldon (MSU) def. Conrad Brown (UCSB) 6-4, 6-4

Order of finish: 5, 2, 4, 3, 6, 1

UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will have a quick turnaround as they take on Georgia Tech tomorrow, Jan. 29. The Gauchos and Yellow Jackets will begin play in Malibu at 10 a.m.