NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. --- A sunny day at Newport Beach Tennis Club gave way to some intense Big West tennis action going the Anteaters' way, 4-3, over UC Santa Barbara Sunday afternoon.
The Gauchos (2-4, 0-1) took the doubles point in a sweep. Nos. 1 and 3 doubles clinched the point for UCSB while Justin Agbayani and Jonathan Poon left their match unfinished with a 5-4 lead.
The singles battled started with the tying point in a sweep from Nico Mertens. UCSB gained a point back, but No. 4 Shuhei Shibahara tied it back up with another sweep, and Sebastian Heim took the No. 1 point to put UC Irvine (3-6, 1-0) on top, 3-2.
The match came down to third-set tiebreakers for No. 3 Tyler Pham and No. 6 Rafael Davidian. Pham and freshman counterpart, Cody Rakela, pushed each other to the limit in lengthy, 6-6 tiebreak point. During the marathon, Davidian took his third set, 6-3, to clinch the match while Rakela claimed the final point, 7-6 (13-11), as the match ended in a 4-3 Anteater win.
The win for UCI was its third of the season and puts it at 1-0 in conference play. Next weekend, UCI travels to Las Vegas, Nev. for the UNLV Rebel Classic with matches against Boise State, Sat. Feb. 14, and UNLV, Sun. Feb. 14.
UC IRVINE 4, UC SANTA BARBARA 3
UCI (3-6, 1-0) | UCSB (2-4, 0-1)
February 8, 2015
Newport Beach Tennis Club
Doubles
1 Galskov/Johnsson (UCSB) def. Hammel/Pham (UCI) – 6-3
2 Agbayani/Poon (UCI) vs. Eshmade/Masciorini (UCSB) – 5-4 (unf.)
3 Mays/Riminton (UCSB) def. Mertens/Shibahara (UCI) – 6-4
UCSB wins the doubles point
Singles
1 Sebastian Heim (UCI) def. Morgan Mays (UCSB) – 6-4, 7-5
2 Nico Mertens (UCI) def. Tobais Galskov (UCSB) – 7-5, 6-3
3 Cody Rakela (UCSB) def. Tyler Pham (UCI) – 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 (11)
4 Shuhei Shibahara (UCI) def. Nathan Eshmade (UCSB) – 7-5, 6-4
5 Teague Hamilton (UCSB) def. Jonathan Hammel (UCI) – 7-6, 7-5
6 Rafael Davidian (UCI) def. Andrew Riminton (UCSB) – 6-7, 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles – 1, 3 | Singles – 2, 5, 4, 1, 6, 3
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