Tournament Central

MALIBU, Calif. – Sophomore Luis Lopez highlighted the first day of the ITA Southwest Regional Championships for the UC Irvine men's tennis team as he picked up two singles victories Thursday in Malibu. 

Lopez cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 win over host Pepperdine's Tom Hill in the first round. He followed that outing by defeating Francois Musitelli of Grand Canyon, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the Round of 32 where he will face UCLA's Austin Rapp on Friday.   

Sophomore Mason Hansen started his day off with a straight-set victory against a Pac-12 opponent as he topped the Bruins' Reid Shumway, 7-5, 6-3. Hansen was then unable to complete a comeback attempt in the Round of 64 where he suffered a 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 loss to the Waves' Jack Van Slyke. 

Freshman Bruce Man-Son-Hing and junior Luca Marquard both received a bye into the Round of 64, but were unable to advance. Man-Son-Hing took the first set from Daniel Gealer of UCLA before ultimately falling, 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1.

Marquard dropped his first set to Lukas Moenter of LMU, before responding with a 6-0 victory in set two. He couldn't finish off his opponent, however, as Moenter came back to take the match, 6-4, 0-6, 6-2.

In other first round action, sophomore Anil Patel dropped a tough 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-3 decision to Cal Poly's Rafael Lenhard, while junior Andrew Gong fell to Jens Sweaney of USC (6-3, 6-4).

Sophomore Vatsal Bajpai (6-2, 6-0), freshman Derek Chen (7-5, 6-4) and freshman Moritz Geis (6-2, 6-2) also came up short in their respective singles matches.

Geis and Gong opened doubles play with a gutsy win as they fought back from a 6-3 deficit to defeat Alexandros Araouzos/Pratt Keerasuntonpong of San Diego, 8-7 (7). The 'Eater duo moves on to the Round of 32 where they are set to square off against Cal Poly's Benjamin Donovan/Corey Pang.

UC Irvine will continue play at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships Friday at Pepperdine's Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.

Singles

Round of 64
Luis Lopez (UCI) def. Fancois Musitelli (GCU): 6-4, 6-4
Jack Van Slyke (PEP) def. Mason Hansen (UCI): 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
Daniel Gealer (UCLA) def. Bruce Man-Son-HIng (UCI): 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1
Lukas Moenter (LMU) def. Luca Marquard (UCI): 6-4, 0-6, 6-2

Round of 128
Jens Sweaney (USC) def. Andrew Gong (UCI): 6-3, 6-4
Mason Hansen (UCI) def. Reid Shumway (UCLA): 7-5, 6-3
Luis Lopez (UCI) def. Tom Hill (PEPP): 6-1, 6-4
Rafael Lenhard (CP) def. Anil Patel (UCI): 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-3
David Laser (USC) def. Vatsal Bajpai (UCI): 6-2, 6-0
Adrian Legarreta (GCU) def. Derek Chen (UCI): 7-5, 6-4
Sander Goels-Anderson (SDSU) def. Moritz Geis (UCI): 6-2, 6-2

Round of 64
Geis/Gong (UCI) def. Araouzos/Keerasuntonpong (USD): 8-7 (7)

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