IRVINE, Calif. --- The 'Eaters were swept for the first time since the season opener Friday afternoon as No. 37 Santa Clara won, 7-0, over UCI at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
Doubles were down early as Gould/Matthews and DeCoster/Shibahara were each down 6-1 before mounting a comeback to put each of them at 6-4. The Broncos would finish them out winning 8-4 in each to get the doubles point. Ryan Cheung (Irvine / University HS) and Jacob Jung (Upland / Options for Youth HS) held their own again this time falling in a tiebreaker, 7-3, to drop their doubles set, 8-7.
Singles started off at an intense pace. Fabian Matthews (Newport Beach / Corona del Mar HS) was unable to go in singles moving everyone else up a spot. Sam Gould (Hamilton, New Zealand / St. Kentigren College Prep) was put into No. 1 duty taking his match to the wire before falling. UCI was unable to pull out a singles point all falling in straight sets besides No. 5 Mika DeCoster (Ladera Ranch / Laurel Springs HS) who, after falling in a first-set tiebreaker, shut down his opponent in set two, 6-0. The third set tiebreak would go to the Broncos as they won all six singles matches for the 7-0 win.
UCI (1-10, 0-1) has battled all season taking at least one point in nine of 11 matches and multiple points in five of those. This match was the first 7-0 loss since match one against No. 9 UCLA. The 'Eaters also lost 4-0 to No. 35 Fresno State in a match that was cut short.
UC Irvine is back on the court Mon. Mar. 12th at 1:00 p.m. at Anteater Tennis Stadium. The 'Eaters host the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, another ranked foe at No. 21 in the nation.
#37 Santa Clara 7, UC Irvine 0
Anteater Tennis Stadium – Irvine, Calif.
Doubles
No. 1 – Lamble/Osintsev (SCU) def. Gould/Matthews (UCI) – 8-4
No. 2 – Dandan/Pham (SCU) def. Cheung/Jung (UCI) – 8-7 (3)
No. 3 – Kamono/Vinel (SCU) def. DeCoster/Shibahara (UCI) – 8-4
Santa Clara wins the doubles point
Singles
No. 1 – Kyle Dandan (SCU) def. Sam Gould (UCI) – 7-6 (2), 6-4
No. 2 – John Lamble (SCU) def. Jacob Jung (UCI) – 6-1, 6-1
No. 3 – Nicolas Vinel (SCU) def. Ryan Cheung (UCI) – 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 – Tom Pham (SCU) def. Shuhei Shibahara (UCI) – 7-5, 6-3
No. 5 – Ilya Osintsev (SCU) def. Mika DeCoster (UCI) – 7-6 (6), 0-6, (10-4)
No. 6 – Eugene Muchynski (SCU) def. Eric Gast (UCI) – 6-1, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles – 1, 3, 2 | Singles – 2, 3, 6, 4, 5, 1
______________________________________________________________________
For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu. For more information click here.
For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu. For additional information, click here.
You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
