TEMPE, Ariz. - The UC Santa Barbara Men's Tennis team competed in the ITA Southwest Regional Championships this weekend, with Lorenzo Brunkow and Diogo Morais delivering a strong doubles performance while also making solid individual runs in singles.

THURSDAY
Thursday's action showcased only singles matches, where three Gauchos battled through the qualifying round for a spot in the 64-player main draw.

Ranked as the No. 13 seed, Matei Gavrea wasted no time, dominating UCLA's Andrei Crabel in a commanding 6-0, 6-1 performance.

Showing similar dominance, Miguel Avendano, seeded fifth, powered past UC Riverside's Alexey Efremov with a decisive 6-1, 6-0 win to move into the main draw.

Karel Fromel, the No. 10 seed, battled through two close sets but came up short against Gregory Gamal of UC Irvine, 4-6, 4-6.

FRIDAY
The following day opened with doubles matches in the morning, though three of four UCSB pairs earned automatic byes into the Round of 32 and would not take the court together until Saturday. The lone Gaucho duo to compete, Carson Lee and Charlie Underwood, would also advance from the Round of 64 with a strong 8-6 victory over UC San Diego's David Adamson and Abhinav Chunduru.

Transitioning into the main draw of singles play, freshman Lorenzo Brunkow would open the Round of 64 with a well-fought three-set match versus Aleksi Lofman of San Diego State, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Carson Lee, too, would find himself in a close three-set match but fell to Tal Goodman from UC Irvine, 7-5, 4-6, 2-6.

Miguel Avendano faced the No. 15-seeded Shu Matsuoka and was engaged in a back-and-forth match against the Arizona player, ultimately dropping the last set with a final score of, 3-6, 7-5, 1-6.

No. 5 seed Diogo Morais would find quick success against Cal Poly's John Cross, 6-2, 6-4.

Dominique Rolland, seeded 10th, despite taking the first set swiftly, fell to Pepperdine's Photos Photiades, 6-2, 2-6, 1-6.

Matei Gavrea also found himself in a back-and-forth match, but emerged victorious against Imran Daniel Abdul Hazli from SDSU, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Unfortunately, Gavrea had to withdraw due to injury, ending his run in the tournament. 

Charlie Underwood took on a close match, losing in a nail-biter of a 2-set match, 6-4, 7-5, to UCLA's Rudy Quan.

Lucca Liu, after evening it to one set apiece, would ultimately fall to USC's Niels Hoffmann 4-6, 6-4, 0-6.

SATURDAY
Doubles play got underway at 12:30 p.m., setting the stage for singles competition later in the afternoon.

UCSB's Lorenzo Brunkow and Diogo Morais, seeded third, delivered the team's only doubles win in the Round of 32, earning a dominant 8-2 victory over Hawai'i's Timothy Li and Kent Mueller. Both players would later appear as the Gauchos' remaining competitors in singles play.

Miguel Avendaño and Karel Fromel faced a formidable challenge against UCLA's top-seeded doubles pair, Spencer Johnson and Emon van Loben Sels, falling 8-3.

Carson Lee and Charlie Underwood battled with determination against Arizona's home pairing of Sasha Rozin and Zoran Ludoski but narrowly dropped their match, 8-5.

The No. 2-seeded tandem of Lucca Liu and Dominique Rolland similarly ran into trouble, dropping their match to UC Riverside's Alejandro Arcila and Matthias Uwe Kask, 8-5.

Splitting off for doubles play, Brunkow met tough opposition from USC's Jack McCarthy, falling 6-3, 6-2. Morais, in one of the tighter matches of the day, forced a tiebreak in the opening set before ultimately conceding in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-4, to close out his run.

SUNDAY
After regrouping in the Round of 16, Brunkow and Morais' campaign came to an end in one of the tournament's closest matches, falling in a tiebreak to Arizona's No. 14-seeded duo, 8-7(5).

UP NEXT
The Blue and Gold will head to USC next week to compete in the Dennis Rizza JKC Collegiate Championships, which run from Friday, Oct. 31, through Sunday, Nov. 2.