Hawai‘i Outlasts UC Davis In First Round Battle
Fourth-seeded Hawai‘i fought to a tough 4-2 victory over fifth-seeded UC Davis in the Big West Men's Tennis Championship First Round at the Orange County Great Park Friday. Idle since April 10, the Rainbow Warriors showed no signs of rust in defeating the Aggies twice in a three-week span.
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NOTES
• Two players won three tiebreaker sets for Hawai‘i – Lucas Labrunie in the first set against Andrei Volgin and Simao Telo Alves in the second.
• UH snapped a streak of five consecutive first round losses in the Big West Tournament. The Rainbow Warriors had not won a tournament match since 2014, which coincidentally was also against UC Davis. UH advanced to the finals in 2014.
• UH draws top-seeded Cal Poly in Saturday's semifinals. The two teams met once before in the tournament, with the Mustangs edging UH in the 2014 championship.
UC Santa Barbara Extends Big West Tournament Win Streak
UC Santa Barbara, the No. 3 seed in the Big West Men's Tennis Championship, continued its successful run at the event with a 4-0 win over sixth-seeded UC Riverside Friday at the Orange County Great Park. The Gauchos won their 12th consecutive tournament match dating back to 2015.
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NOTES
• UCSB's Big West record run of five consecutive tournament titles began in 2015, the year the program was also No. 3 seed.
• The Gauchos have won 16 of their last 17 tournament matches.
• UCSB played with a full lineup for the second straight match after a four-match stretch with a shorthanded roster.
Joseph Guillin and
Kai Brady surrendered only six games between them in wins against
Gilbert Chung and
Bingru Chen, respectively. UCSB's
Stefano Tsorotiotis held a 5-1 lead in the first set when his opponent,
Antreas Djakouris, retired due to injury.
• UCSB faces No. 2 seed UC Irvine in the semifinals. The Gauchos have beaten the Anteaters in the last six straight tournament meetings, with five of those coming in the semifinal round. UCI's last tourney win against UCSB came in the 2011 semis.