SEATTLE, Wash. – After winning a close 4-3 decision in their season opener yesterday, the UCSB men’s tennis team came up on the losing end of a 4-3 score on Saturday, falling just short of an upset over No. 37 Washington on the road.
With the match tied at 3-all, the deciding point again came down to court 6, where sophomore Andrew Riminton lost in a hard-fought, three-set contest.
Riminton forced a third set after winning the tiebreaker in the second set of his match against Washington’s Daffra Sanon. Down 3-5 in the third set, Riminton broke serve to climb back to within a game at 4-5. Serving at 30-all, Riminton called a ball wide and was overruled to bring the score to 30-40. Since it was the third time Riminton was overruled in the match, he was called for a point penalty to give Sanon the winning point, abruptly ending the match.
“We just barely missed an opportunity to knock off the 37th ranked team,” said Coach Marty Davis, who added that “it’s not going to get any easier” against No. 52 Oregon on Monday. Though disappointed with the result, Coach Davis was pleased with the team’s effort against the nationally-ranked Washington squad.
The Gauchos set up the 3-3 tie with a two wins in doubles to secure the doubles point and two more wins in singles.
In doubles action, the UCSB pairings at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions won their respective matches for the second night in a row to begin the season 2-0. Gaucho duo Hamilton/Riminton defeated the Huskies’ Chamerski/Watanabe 6-4 and Galskov and Seemann teamed up to beat Farkas/Manthou in a tiebreaker to take the 6-5 victory.
The Huskies responded with three wins in singles to claim a commanding 3-1 lead. Teague Hamilton, Tobias Galskov, and Sasha Gryaznov all suffered straight set losses at courts 4, 2, and 3, respectively.
UCSB answered back with wins at courts 1 and 5 to tie the match at 3-3. Junior Ziad Sultan posted a win at the No. 1 position over Emmett Egger 6-5, 6-5 and freshman Erik Johnsson notched his second win of the season with a victory over Viktor Farkas 6-5, 6-5.
The Gauchos will look to bounce back from the tough loss at #52 Oregon on Monday in Eugene, Ore. in the conclusion of their difficult three-match road trip. Action is set to begin at 10:00 AM.
#37 Washington 4, UC Santa Barbara 3
Jan. 18, 2014
Seattle, Wash. (Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center)Doubles
1. Egger/Hawke (UW) def. Sultan/Gryaznov (UCSB) 6-2
2. Galskov/Seemann (UCSB) def. Farkas/Manthou (UW) 6-5
3. Hamilton/Riminton (UCSB) def. Chamerski/Watanabe (UW) 6-4Singles
1. Ziad Sultan (UCSB) def. Emmett Egger (UW) 6-5, 6-5
2. Max Manthou (UW) def. #79 Tobias Galskov (UCSB) 6-2, 6-2
3. Gal Hakak (UW) def. Sasha Gryaznov (UCSB) 6-5, 6-2
4. Jeff Hawke (UW) def. Teague Hamilton (UCSB) 6-0, 6-3
5. Erik Johnsson (UCSB) def. Viktor Farkas (UW) 6-5, 6-5
6. Daffra Sanon (UW) def. Andrew Riminton (UCSB) 6-3, 5-6, 6-4Order of Finish: Doubles (1, 3, 2); Singles (4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 6)
UCSB SEASON RECORD: 1-1
