Santa Barbara, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara men's tennis team showcased resilience in a thrilling 4-3 comeback victory against UC Irvine on Sunday afternoon. The win maintains a perfect record in Big West play and moves the Gauchos to the first position in Big West conference standings. The match also served as a tribute to this year's seniors:
Pablo Masjuan,
Diego Castillo,
Kai Brady, and
Luka Mrsic.
THE MATCH
Final: #49 UC Santa Barbara 4, UC Irvine 3
Records: UC Santa Barbara (11-6), UC Irvine (13-6)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos encountered an early setback when they narrowly lost out on the doubles point. UC Irvine seized a quick 6-1 win on court three over
Conrad Brown and
Luka Mrsic. In the second position,
Kai Brady and
Lucca Liu clinched a crucial 7-5 win to put the Gauchos back in the game. Despite their best efforts,
Pablo Masjuan and
Gianluca Brunkow suffered a close defeat on court one when they dropped the 6-6 tiebreaker, 9-7.
Opening up singles play was No. 56
Pablo Masjuan, who delivered a 6-4, 6-4 victory over his opponent. UC Irvine swiftly countered with two consecutive straight-set wins on courts three and five, extending their lead to 3-1.
Gianluca Brunkow was able to pick up a pivotal point for the Gauchos in the second position, followed shortly by
Lucca Liu, who won 6-3, 7-5. With the score at 3-3, all eyes looked to
Conrad Brown on court six, who was fighting for the third set win after dropping the second. Brown pushed to take the third set 6-3, clinching the match for Santa Barbara.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. Rahul Dhokia/Noah Zamora (UCI-M) def. #38
Pablo Masjuan/
Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB-M) 7-6 (9-7)
2.
Kai Brady/
Lucca Liu (UCSB-M) def. Andy Nguyen/Hiroki Sakagawa (UCI-M) 7-5
3. Matthew Sah/Brandon Park (UCI-M) def.
Luka Mrsic/
Conrad Brown (UCSB-M) 6-1
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. #56
Pablo Masjuan (UCSB-M) def. Enrique Luque Rico (UCI-M) 6-4, 6-4
2.
Gianluca Brunkow (UCSB-M) def. Hiroki Sakagawa (UCI-M) 6-3, 6-3
3. Noah Zamora (UCI-M) def.
Luka Mrsic (UCSB-M) 6-3, 6-2
4.
Lucca Liu (UCSB-M) def. Rithvik Krishna (UCI-M) 6-3, 7-5
5. Andy Nguyen (UCI-M) def.
Kai Brady (UCSB-M) 6-4, 6-1
6.
Conrad Brown (UCSB-M) def. Rahul Dhokia (UCI-M) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6
UP NEXT
The UC Santa Barbara Men's Tennis Team will conlcude Big West matches this week with UC Davis at home, Monday, Apr.14, followed by away matches with UC Riverside and Cal Poly on Thursday, Apr. 18 and Saturday, Apr. 20, respectively.
