IRVINE, Calif. --- The final Big West match for the Anteaters came down to the final point in a 4-3 defeat to Hawai'i Friday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
UC Irvine (11-16, 1-4) sailed through doubles sweeping the matched led by the clinching duo of Jonathan Hammel and Tyler Pham.
Singles was back and forth especially with early results in the form of a loss by Hammel, win by Rafael Davidian, and a loss by Tyler Pham, all in straight sets, to tie the match at 2-2.
Hawai'i (7-11, 4-0) took a brief 3-2 lead before Caryl Hernandez scored a win at No. 5 singles to send the deciding point to No. 1 singles and senior Ryan Cheung on senior day.
Cheung took the opening set, but was forced to a third set by Jon Brooklyn. Cheung trailed until a crucial break to tie the set at 4-4, but Brooklyn took control late to win the set and match, 6-4.
UCI finishes Big West play at 1-4 and will be the No. 5-seed at the Big West Tournament in Indian Wells, Calif. The opening match is Thurs. Apr. 24 at 9:00 a.m. where UCI will draw the UC Davis Aggies. First, the 'Eaters have one remaining non-conference matchup on Sat. Apr. 19 as they meet San Diego State at 4:00 p.m. at Palisades Tennis Club in Irvine.
HAWAI'I 4, UC IRVINE 3
April 18, 2014
Anteater Tennis Stadium.
Doubles
1 Jonathan Hammel/Tyler Pham (UCI) def. Nils Schuhmann/David Schuster (UH) – 8-6
2 Ryan Cheung/Jonathan Poon (UCI) def. Jon Brooklyn/Carter Lam (UH) – 8-4
3 Caryl Hernandez/Shuhei Shibahara (UCI) def. Chas Okamoto/Pavel Liska (UH) – 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1 Jon Brooklyn (UH) def. Ryan Cheung (UCI) – 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2 Nils Schuhmann (UH) def. Tyler Pham (UCI) – 6-2, 6-3
3 Chas Okamoto (UH) def. Jonathan Hammel (UCI) – 6-3, 6-2
4 Rafael Davidian (UCI) def. Danilo Casanova (UH) – 6-3, 6-4
5 Caryl Hernandez (UCI) def. David Schuster (UH) – 6-1, 1-6, 6-3
6 Pavel Liska (UH) def. Jonathan Poon (UCI) – 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 4, 2, 6, 5, 1
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