SANTA BARBARA -- The Big West’s singles and doubles bids to the ITA Conference Masters was contested in the conference’s fall event at UC Santa Barbara’s Arnhold Tennis Center, last Thursday to Sunday. The winners of the singles and doubles tournaments got the first rights to the league’s bids, but if they decline then the runner-up may accept. If the runner-up declines, then the right will go to third, and so on.
The ITA Conference Masters is one of four ways to qualify for NCAAs. Since the event will be held simultaneously as the ITA Sectional Championships, another NCAA qualifying tournament, the complication of which event to participate in occurs when deciding whether or not to accept the conference’s bid.
Singles
Azuma Visaya of Hawai'i won the men’s singles tournament. Azuma, the 65th-ranked player in the nation, defeated UC Santa Barbara’s
Lucas Bollinger in straight sets, 7-6(8), 6-1.
In the third-place match, UC Irvine’s
Max Fardanesh earned a comeback victory over Cal Poly’s
Jovan Lubbe, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.
In the semifinals, Visaya downed Lubbe 6-2, 6-3, while Bollinger bested Fardanesh 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 on the other side of the bracket.
| Round |
Winner |
Runner-Up |
Score |
| Final |
Azuma Visaya (Hawai'i) |
Lucas Bollinger (UC Santa Barbara) |
7-6(8), 6-1 |
| 3rd place |
Max Fardanesh (UC Irvine) |
Jovan Lubbe (Cal Poly) |
1-6, 6-1, 6-4 |
| Semifinals |
Azuma Visaya (Hawai'i) |
Jovan Lubbe (Cal Poly) |
6-2, 6-3 |
| Semifinals |
Lucas Bollinger (UC Santa Barbara) |
Max Fardanesh (UC Irvine) |
6-0, 3-6, 6-4 |
Doubles
The UC Santa Barbara duo of
Conrad Brown and
Miguel Avendano defeated Cal Poly’s Lubbe and
Sean Kamyshev 8-3 to come out on top of the doubles tournament.
In the semifinals, Brown and Avendano toppled
Perry DiGiulio and
Rithvik Katpelly of UC Davis 8-6, while Kamyshev and Lubbe edged UC Irvine’s Fardanesh and
Ruining Huang 8-6.
| Round |
Winner |
Runner-Up |
Score |
| Final |
Conrad Brown & Miguel Avendano (UC Santa Barbara) |
Jovan Lubbe & Sean Kamyshev (Cal Poly) |
8-3 |
| Semifinals |
Azuma Visaya (Hawai'i) |
Perry DiGiulio & Rithvik Katpelly |
8-6 |
| Semifinals |
Jovan Lubbe & Sean Kamyshev (Cal Poly) |
Max Fardanesh & Ruining Huang (UC Irvine) |
8-6 |
