Results

IRVINE, Calif. - The second-seeded UC Irvine men's tennis team put forth a valiant effort, but came up short against No. 3 UC Santa Barbara, 4-1, in the Big West Tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon at the Orange County Great Park.
 
The Anteaters (10-6) held an early lead, winning the doubles point for the 10th time this season. Just minutes after the Gauchos picked up a victory at the third position, Mateusz Smolicki and Mark Peneff finished off a dominant 6-3 performance against Stefano Tsorotiotis/Alejandro Vedri at the top of the lineup.
 
It then came down to court two where Bjorn Hoffmann and Bruce Man-Son-Hing had fallen behind Victor Krustev/Joseph Rotheram, 4-1. UCI's senior duo refused to go down quietly, however, as they stormed back to take the next five games for the 6-4 triumph. It was their team-leading sixth doubles victory, while Man-Son-Hing improved his career dual-match doubles record to 52-27.
 
UCSB (9-6) responded in singles, pulling ahead 2-1 with straight-set wins at Nos. 5 and 3. The remainder of the matches went to three sets.
 
At No. 1, Hoffmann kept the momentum from doubles play as he cruised to a 6-1 first-set win over Joseph Guillin, but was unable to close it out, dropping the next two, 6-3, 6-4. Pablo Masjuan then clinched the match for UC Santa Barbara with a hard-fought 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory against Mike Mkrtchian at No. 4. It was Mkrtchian's first loss since March 12.
 
The remaining two singles courts were also in a tightly contested third set when the match was called. Smolicki had mounted an impressive comeback against Tsorotiotis at No. 2, as he led 2-6, 7-6 (6), 5-3, while Peneff was locked in a back-and-forth battle with Kai Brady at the sixth spot. Peneff dropped the opening set, but stayed alive by taking the second frame, 7-6 (4), and was trailing 2-1 in the third.  

NOTES
• UC Irvine was making its sixth-straight appearance in the Big West Tournament semifinals.
• Five of those six matches were against UC Santa Barbara.
• The Anteaters saw their season-long five-match win streak come to an end.
• Mike Mkrtchian had also won seven-straight singles matches heading into the conference championships.
• Bruce Man-Son-Hing's 52 career doubles wins rank 16th in program history.