INDIAN WELLS – UC Santa Barbara, the No. 2 seed at the Big West Tournament, defeated UC Irvine 4-2 in a semifinal match on Saturday and will take on Cal Poly for the league title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at 9:00 a.m.
After losing the doubles point, the Gauchos won four of the five completed single smatches.
Ziad Sultan was the first off the court with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jon Kazarian at No. 4, tying the match at 1-1. Sasha Gryaznov gave UCSB its first lead of the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Shuhei Shibahara at No. 5 before Sam Gould tied it at 2-2 with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Benjamin Recknagel at No. 2.
Senior Mathieu Forget extended his outstanding season with a win at No. 1. After Forget and Fabian Matthews split the first two sets, the Gaucho took the third for the win, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
At No. 6, Max Glenn battled in the heat to overcome a one set deficit to post a 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4) victory over Ryan Cheung, sealing the semifinal win for UCSB. Mbonisi Ndimande’s match at No. 3 was pulled when Glenn closed out Cheung.
“This was a good win,” said head coach Marty Davis. “Tomorrow should be interesting. We were on the court longer than Cal Poly, but we’ll be ready.”
The Gauchos will be playing for their first league crown and NCAA Tournament bid since 2009 when they won their third straight.
UCSB is now 14-9 on the season.
RESULTS
Singles:
No. 1 – Mathieu Forget (UCSB) d. Fabian Matthews (UCI) – 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
No. 2 – Sam Gould (UCI) d. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) – 7-5, 6-4
No. 3 – Mbonisi Ndimande (UCSB) vs. Jacob Jung (UCI) – DNF
No. 4 – Ziad Sultan (UCSB) d. Jon Kazarian (UCI) – 6-1, 6-2
No. 5 – Sasha Gryaznov (UCSB) d. Shuhei Shibahara (UCI) – 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 – Max Glenn (UCSB) d. Ryan Cheung (UCI) – 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4)Doubles:
No. 1 – Jung/Gould (UCI) d. Forget/Recknagel (UCSB) – 8-3
No. 2 – Ndimande/Alex Johnson (UCSB) vs. Cheung/Kazarian – DNF
No. 3 – Matthews/Shibahara (UCI) d. Sultan/Gryaznov – 8-5
