The UC Santa Barbara Men’s Tennis team wrapped up the UCSB Classic this past Sunday, taking home multiple titles from the tournament.
On the final day of the tournament the Gauchos shined in all three flights of singles, as five players were featured in championship rounds. Of the five, four Gauchos came out on top and the other was beaten by his own teammate in the Flight B final.
Sunday, after stringing together three straight wins each over the weekend, seniors Andrew Riminton and Nathan Eshmade faced off in the final round. Riminton jumped out to a quick lead defeating Eshmade in the first set 6-1, but Eshmade would not be so quick to go down. The second set was a heated battle as both players traded off games until Riminton led 6-5. Despite having multiple match points, Riminton could not close out the match, until he found a opening to blow the ball past the outstretched Eshmade as he charged the net. Rimnton won the battle and the Flight B Championship over his fellow Australian native teammate 6-1, 7-6.
“Its always really fun and pretty interesting to play against your own teammate,” Eshmade said. “The important thing is that the Gauchos came out on top today.”
In Flight A, freshman Nicolas Moreno de Alboran competed in the Consolations Championship against Simon Stevens of Oregon. After two straight sweeps to reach the finals, Moreno de Alboran was forced to a third set in his last match. Splitting the first two 6-2 and 3-6, the freshman grinded out a 6-4 victory in the third, awarding him the match.
Captain Morgan Mays and Cody Rakela added wins of their own in Flight A, totaling three wins and just one loss for each of them this weekend.
Flight C featured Gauchos on both sides of the draw as freshman Anders Holm and senior Miles Seemaan competed in the Championship and Consolation, respectively. After winning three straight matches to reach the final, Holm defeated Jamie Thorp of LMU 6-2, 6-4. After falling to Thorp in the first round, Seemaan swept his way to a finals match with Trey Strobel. He would again sweep winning 6-1, 6-2.
On the doubles end, the team of Holm and Teague Hamilton defeated a Fresno State team 8-5 in the Flight C Consolation Championship. The duo of Eshmade and Moreno de Alboran took third in Flight B with a dominant victory of 8-3 over a UC Davis Aggies team. Mays and Riminton fought hard in Flight A but ultimately ended up taking fourth in the tournament.
With another successful UCSB Classic in the books, the Gauchos will look to travel south to Malibu, California to test their skills at Regionals.
