GAUCHO MEN MAKE TOURNEY FINAL FOR FIFTH STRAIGHT YEAR

BOX SCORE

Top-seeded UC Santa Barbara moved one step closer to clinching its fifth straight Big West Tournament title as the Gauchos dispatched No. 4 seed UC Davis, 4-0, in a men’s semifinal matchup at Indian Wells Tennis Garden Friday.

The Gauchos seek their record fifth consecutive title on Sunday against No. 2 seed Cal Poly. UCSB has defeated the Mustangs in the final three years in a row.

UCSB (15-6) won its 31st straight match against a Big West opponent – a streak that has lasted over four years. Its dominance at Indian Wells includes nine titles in 15 years. UCSB’s last loss at IWTG occurred on April 25, 2014 – coincidentally, against Cal Poly.

The Gauchos earned the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. In a battle between two nationally ranked doubles teams, No. 89 Anders Holm and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran upended No. 70 David Goulak and Ivan Thamma, 6-4, to clinch the point.

Moreno de Alboran backed up his No. 16 national ranking in singles with a dominating 6-0, 6-2 performance at the No. 1 spot over Goulak, earning his seventh straight win and 12th in the last 13 outings.

Hironori Koyanagi won his fourth straight dual match with a 6-0, 6-3 triumph against Chethan Swanson at No. 4 singles, giving the Gauchos a 3-0 advantage.

The match clincher came at No. 5, with Joseph Rotheram rebounding from a first set defeat and storming back for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory against Daniel Landa.

The Aggies were in contention on the three remaining courts which were abandoned at the clinch. Thamma, Nil Giraldez and Arjith Jayaraman were positioned to extend the match.

UC Davis ends its season at 12-11.

BIG WEST MEN’S TENNIS SEMIFINALS
INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN
FRIDAY, APRIL 26
(1) UC SANTA BARBARA 4, (4) UC DAVIS 0

Doubles

1. Moreno de Alboran/Holm (UCSB) def. Goulak/Thamma (UCD)	6-4
2. Guillin/Krustev (UCSB) def. Alex Scamanenco/Landa (UCD)	6-2
3. Rotheram/Alex Dominguez Soto (UCSB) vs. Dariush Jalali/Swanson (UCD)	4-4, unf.

Order of finish: 2, 1

Singles

1. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran (UCSB) def. David Goulak (UCD)	6-0, 6-2
2. Joseph Guillin (UCSB) vs. Ivan Thamma (UCD)	6-4, 6-7 (2), 1-1, unf.
3. Victor Krustev (UCSB) vs. Nil Giraldez (UCD)	6-4, 6-6, unf.
4. Hironori Koyanagi (UCSB) def. Chethan Swanson (UCD)	6-0, 6-3
5. Joseph Rotheram (UCSB) def. Daniel Landa (UCD)	3-6, 6-4, 6-1
6. Anders Holm (UCSB) vs. Arjith Jayaraman (UCD)	7-5, 4-4, unf.

Order of finish: 1, 4, 5

CAL POLY EARNS ANOTHER SHOT AGAINST UCSB IN FINALS

BOX SCORE

The second-seeded Cal Poly men’s tennis team battled No. 3 seed UC Irvine for three hours and prevailed by a 4-2 score in Big West Tournament semifinal action at Indian Wells Tennis Garden Friday.

Junior Antoine Noel proved to be the hero in the tight contest, winning a three-set battle at No. 2 singles over UCI senior Luis Lopez. The 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory improved Noel to 14-4 this season in dual singles matches.

UCI’s Vatsal Bajpai led 2-0 in the third set against Cal Poly’s Roman Shenkiryk at No. 6 singles when the match ended after the two had split the first two sets.

The Mustangs captured an important doubles point to begin the match as the Noel/Gary Vardanyan pairing continued to shine with a 6-4 clincher at No. 2 over Lopez and Bruce Man-Son-Hing. The Cal Poly duo is now 11-3 together this season.

Vardanayan continued his effective freshman campaign with a commanding 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles over Daniel Gealer to put the Mustangs up 2-0.

Alex Stater increased the lead to 3-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph at the No. 3 spot.

The Anteaters battled back to take the next two points to inject some intrigue into the outcome. Mason Hansen got UCI on the board with his win at No. 5, and Sasha Krasnov followed with a tough 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 1 over Josh Ortlip.

Trailing 5-4 in the third set, Lopez served at deuce against Noel with a chance to even the score but hit his return into the net, as Cal Poly players mobbed Noel near the baseline.

Cal Poly seeks its first Big West Tournament title since 2014. The Mustangs look to avenge a 4-0 loss to UCSB one week ago.

BIG WEST MEN’S TENNIS SEMIFINALS
INDIAN WELLS TENNIS GARDEN
FRIDAY, APRIL 26
(2) CAL POLY 4, (3) UC IRVINE 2

Doubles

1. Ortlip/Bechard (CP) def. Bajpai/Smolicki (UCI)	6-3
2. Noel/Vardanyan (CP) def. Lopez/Man-Son-Hing (UCI)	6-4
3. Hansen/Krasnov (UCI) def. Roman Shenkiryk/Andrew Whitehouse (CP)	6-1

Order of finish: 3, 1, 2

Singles

1. Sasha Krasnov (UCI) def. Josh Ortlip (CP)	6-4, 6-4
2. Antoine Noel (CP) def. Luis Lopez (UCI)	6-4, 3-6, 6-4
3. Alex Stater (CP) def. Mateusz Smolicki (UCI)	6-4, 6-2
4. Gary Vardanyan (CP) def. Daniel Gealer (UCI)	6-0, 6-3
5. Mason Hansen (UCI) def. Dominic Bechard (CP)	6-2, 7-5
6. Roman Shenkiryk (CP) vs. Vatsal Bajpai (UCI)	7-6 (8), 3-6, 0-2, unf.

Order of finish: 4, 3, 5, 1, 2