No. 20 Men's Tennis Tops UCSB 5-2

LOS ANGELES – The No. 20 UCLA men's tennis team returned to the non-conference portion of its schedule to defeat UC Santa Barbara 5-2 Thursday afternoon at Los Angeles Tennis Center. The win marked the 50th straight by a UCLA team in a home venue, dating back to 2015.

Keegan Smith clinched the Bruin victory at 4-0 before the remaining matches were played out. Following its suspenseful taking of the doubles point, UCLA (7-4, 1-0) got singles wins from Smith, Govind Nanda, Patrick Zahraj and Mathew Tsolakyan. The Gauchos (6-5) tallied their two points with victories by Nicolas Moreno de Alboran and Hironori Koyanagi.

Doubles play was filled with twists and turns and culminated in two matches being decided by way of tiebreaker. UCLA started with momentum, earning breaks on Courts 2 and 3 on the way to 5-2 and 4-2 leads, respectively. That was when a shift began, particularly on Court 2, where Gauchos Joseph Guillin and Victor Krustev flipped the match squarely in their favor. Pitted against Nanda and Connor Rapp, the UCSB duo ran off five straight games for the 7-5 win.

The Gauchos held simultaneous match points on Courts 2 and 3, but the UCLA combination of Zahraj and Bryce Pereira did its part to knot its match against 80th-ranked Joseph Rotheram and Alex Soto at five games apiece.

The Court 1 match between No. 25 Smith-Maxime Cressy and No. 72 Anders Holm-Nicolas Moreno de Alboran went as expected, ending in a decisive 13th game. The Gauchos took three of the first four points in the extra frame, but the Bruins charged back with the final six to pull all square. An ace by Smith decided it, improving the pair's record to 5-0.

Court 3 also went to a tiebreaker and saw ties at 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Pereira-Zahraj took charge. With the UCLA pair leading 6-5, Zahraj's return brought the Gaucho out wide and caused his shot to hit the net.

UCLA players took four of six singles first sets, none more convincingly than Nanda. The freshman, ranked a team-high 46th, blanked No. 94 Victor Krustev on Court 3 to set the tone. The Gaucho picked up three games in the second, but that was all for the match. Nanda improved to 12-3 overall, 9-2 in dual matches, with the win.

Fellow first-year player Zahraj got back into the win column with a convincing effort against Joseph Rotheram of the Gauchos on Court 4. With a 6-3 first-set win in his back pocket, Zahraj jumped out to a 4-0 advantage in the second and surrendered just two games the rest of the way.

No. 98 Smith faced a 3-4 deficit on Court 2 against No. 39 Guillin in the first set before collecting the final three games and the frame. Guillin took three straight after trailing 0-4 in the second, but Smith proved too strong. The clinching win marked the sophomore's third of the campaign.

Trailing 4-5 in the first set, No. 106 Tsolakyan won three games in a row to take his first set against Holm on Court 6. With a 6-4 second set, Tsolakyan won his second consecutive decision.

In the marquee matchup on the top court, No. 118 Cressy and No. 13 Moreno de Alboran went to a 10-point third set to decide their showdown. Ten points were not enough to decide a winner in the win-by-two scenario. Moreno de Alboran eventually got the upper hand and the win, 6-2, 4-6, 1-0(10).

UCLA's Ben Goldberg played a full third set against Koyanagi, who responded after an early deficit on Court 6. The Gaucho took six of the last eight games, including the tiebreaker, for a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(6) win.

The Bruins will return to action Tuesday, March 26, when they welcome Loyola Marymount to LATC. First serve is set for 2 p.m.

Tennis Match Results
UC Santa Barbara vs UCLA
3/14/2019 at Los Angeles, CA
(Los Angeles Tennis Center)

#20 UCLA 5, UC Santa Barbara 2

Singles competition
1. #13 N. Moreno de Alboran (UCSB) def. #118 Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (12-10)
2. #98 Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. #39 Joseph Guillin (UCSB) 6-4, 6-4
3. #46 Govind Nanda (UCLA) def. #94 Victor Krustev (UCSB) 6-0, 6-3
4. Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) def. Joseph Rotheram (UCSB) 6-3, 6-2
5. Hironori Koyanagi (UCSB) def. Ben Goldberg (UCLA) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (8-6)
6. #106 Mathew Tsolakyan (UCLA) def. Anders Holm (UCSB) 7-5, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. #25 Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith (UCLA) def. #72 Anders Holm/N. Moreno de Alboran (UCSB) 7-6 (7-4)
2. Joseph Guillin/Victor Krustev (UCSB) def. Govind Nanda/Connor Rapp (UCLA) 7-5
3. Bryce Pereira/Patrick Zahraj (UCLA) def. #80 Joseph Rotheram/Alex Soto (UCSB) 7-6 (7-5)

Match Notes:
UC Santa Barbara 6-5
UCLA 7-4; National ranking #20
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (3,4,2,6,1,5)
T-3:24