IRVINE, Calif. – The third-seeded UC Irvine men's tennis team saw its Big West Tournament run come to an end in the semifinals with a narrow 4-2 loss to No. 2 seed Cal Poly Friday afternoon at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
 
UCI ends its season with a 15-8 overall record. Cal Poly (14-9) advances to the championship game and will play top-seeded UC Santa Barbara on Sunday.

QUOTE FROM HEAD COACH MIKE SAUNDERS
"We put ourselves in a position to win the match but it didn't go our way. Credit to Cal Poly. They crawled out of the jaws of defeat to take the doubles point. We won handily on court 3 and we were up a break on court 2. And with the match score 2-3 for Cal Poly we were surging on the last two singles courts. Vatsal was up a break and rolling on court 6 and Luis had quadruple break point at 4-4 on court 2. It's one of those loses that feels like we were one point away. But it wasn't meant to be. I was proud how we competed. I felt everyone played their hearts out, particularly our four seniors. Sasha and Mason played lights out in both doubles and singles. Luis battles like a warrior, raised his level to come back in the second and was so close to winning. Vatsal rallied and would have won his match at 6. The guys should hold their heads high. They played with passion and fought to the end. You can't ask for more than that. We grew closer as a team and we became much tougher, more resilient, more courageous competitors this season. I am especially proud of Luis, Sasha, Mason and Vatsal - our seniors and leaders. What a gift for me to be their coach and mentor."
 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
> The Anteaters dropped a hard-fought doubles point to start the match. Mason Hansen and Sasha Krasnov defeated Roman Shenkiryk and Andrew Whitehouse at No. 3, 6-1
> UCI dropped at No. 1 and 2 doubles as the Mustangs took the point
> CP went up 2-0 with a win at No. 4 to kick off singles. Alex Stater defeated Mateusz Smolicki on court three, 6-4, 6-2, to put the Mustangs up 3-0
> UCI stormed back with wins at No. 5 and 1 to make it 3-2. Hansen defeated CP's Dominic Bechard, 6-2, 7-5 on court five while Krasnov earned a 6-4, 6-4 win at the top spot
> No. 2 and No. 6 singles both went into three sets. Luis Lopez dropped the first set at No. 2, 4-6, but came back to take set two, 6-3. He battled with CP's Antoine Noel but ultimately fell in the third, 4-6, giving the Mustangs the clinching point
> Vatsal Bajpai was in a three-set battle with Shenkiryk at No. 6. Bajpai dropped the first set but won the second, 6-3, and was leading the third, 2-0, when the match was called
 
UC Irvine made its fifth-straight appearance in the Big West semifinals.
 
DOUBLES
1. Josh Ortlip/Dominic Bechard (CP) def. Vatsal Bajpai/Mateusz Smolicki (UCI), 6-3
2. Antoine Noel/Gary Vardanyan (CP) def. Luis Lopez/Bruce Man-Son-Hing (UCI), 6-4
3.  Mason Hansen/Sasha Krasnov (UCI) def. Roman Shenkiryk/Andrew Whitehouse (CP), 6-1
Order: 3, 1, 2
 
SINGLES
1. Krasnov def. Ortlip, 6-4, 6-4
2. Noel def. Lopez, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
3. Alex Stater def. Smolicki, 6-4, 6-2  
4. Gary Vardanyan def. Daniel Gealer, 6-0, 6-3
5. Hansen def. Bechard, 6-2, 7-5
6. Vatsal Bajpai vs. Shenkiryk, 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 2-0 UF
Order: 4, 3, 5, 1, 2*