UC Irvine Downs Dons, 4-1

Saturday, February 9

Irvine, CA

11:00 AM

UC Irvine

San Francisco

UC Irvine Downs Dons, 4-1

February 09, 2019 | Men's Tennis

Box Score

By: Stacey Shackleford

IRVINE, Calif. – After dropping the doubles point, UCI rallied in singles to beat San Francisco, 4-1 at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

After a bit of a delay to dry the courts from an early morning rain, UCI won its second consecutive match to even its record to 2-2 overall. USF falls to 1-3 on the year.

COACH MIKE SAUNDERS SAID
"We played together, for each other. Our unity and how we resiliently bounced back after losing the doubles point in a close tiebreaker was the difference. We had to pull Louis out of the singles at #2. We were down early in singles on court 2, 3 and 4, but Mat, Mason and Aaron all stayed positive, played with more clarity and turned their matches around with Louis leading from the sidelines with Antoine and Mike. The best wins are team wins like today. San Francisco played courageous doubles at 1 and 2. Their coaches are classy guys."

ABOUT THE MATCH
Doubles
>UCI's No. 3 team of Luis Lopez and Bruce Man-Son-Hing got UCI off to a good start with a 6-3 victory
> USF would win the next two to capture the doubles point

Singles
>Daniel Gealer tied the match at 1-1 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Oz Daniel at No. 5
>Mason Hansen needed a tiebreaker to win the first then blanked Nitzan Ricklis 6-0 to pick up UCI's second point
>Mateusz Smolicki won in straight sets at No. 2 against Paul Giraud, 6-4, 7-6
>Vatsal Bajpai sealed the victory at No. 6 with a 6-2, 6-4 win versus David Woodland
>Due to travel plans, No. 1 and No. 4 singles were not completed

UP NEXT
>UCI heads on the road, traveling to BYU Friday (Feb. 15) for a 4:30 p.m. PT match from the Indoor Courts

UC IRVINE 4, SAN FRANCISCO 1
Singles
No. 1 – Sasha Krasnov (UCI) vs. Ryan Marker (USF), 6-7, 4-0 UF
No. 2 – Mateusz Smolicki (UCI) def. Paul Giraud (USF), 6-4, 7-6 (3)
No. 3 – Mason Hansen UCI) def. Nitzan Ricklis (USF), 7-6 (5), 6-0
No. 4 – Aaron Bailey (UCI ) vs. Phuc Huynh (USF), 6-4, 4-4 UF
No. 5 – Daniel Gealer (UCI) def. Oz Daniel (USF), 6-4, 6-4
No. 6 – Vatsal Bajpai (UCI) def. David Woodland (USF), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles
No. 1 – Marker/Giraud (USF) def. Bajpai/Smolicki (UCI), 7-6
No. 2 -- Daniel/Huynh (USF) def. Hansen/Gealer (UCI), 6-4
No. 3 – Luis Lopez/Bruce Man Son Hing (UCI) def. Woodland/Ricklis (USF), 6-3