University of Washington
UC Santa Barbara
Washington Falls Short to No. 54 UCSB, 4-3
January 16, 2016 | Men's Tennis
SEATTLE — Washington dropped their first match of the regular season to No. 54 UC Santa Barbara Friday night in a 4-3 decision at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. Falling just short of the Gauchos, the Dawgs move to 2-1 on the season.
The Huskies started the match off with a strong showing from Jake Douglas and Wendell Watanabe on court two, defeating Morgan Mays and Nicolas Moreno 6-4.
UCSB answered with the next two victories in doubles action to pick up the first point of the match. Anders Holm and Chase Masciorini defeated Kawika Lam and Mitch Stewart in a 7-5 decision on court three. On court one, Nathan Eshmade and Miles Seemann capitalized in a tiebreaker to defeat Piers Foley and Enzo Sommer 7-6 (8).
In singles action, Stewart dominated on court one, defeating Mays 6-1, 6-2 to even the match at 1-1.
“His opponent was a tough player and Mitch was just suffocating,” said head coach Matt Anger. “There were not a lot of opportunities for him and Mitch can do that to guys. I think it was fun for him. He played a good match. Like I said, the other guy is a good player and Mitch was super tonight.”
The Huskies took the lead after Enzo drilled out a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Cody Rakela on court four. However, the Gauchos were quick to regain the lead at 3-2 after two victories on courts five and six. Holm defeated Rishabh Raman in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on court six followed by Olver Sec's 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 win over Joao Barra on court five.
Douglas kept the Huskies alive on court three with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat over Moreno to tie the match at 3-3.
The match came down to the third set on court two with Gal Hakak battling it out with Eshmade. Hakak took the first set 6-2 but dropped the second set in a tiebreaker to send the match to a third set. Eshmade took control in the third set, topping Hakak 6-1 and giving the Gauchos the 4-3 victory.
“I take my hat off to their guy, Eshmade there at second singles,” said Anger. “In that third set he played lights out tennis and he deserved to win. No complaining on my side other than I would have liked to have gotten that last point.”
“There were opportunities all night long for both teams,” added Anger. “We played good there at second doubles but losing that tie-breaker at first doubles 8-6, then Gal's second set tiebreaker. You get one of those two and we are winning a match.”
Washington returns to action Sunday, January 17 at 11:00 a.m. in a matchup with No. 12 Texas at the Nordstrom Tennis Center. If you can't make it on campus follow the live stream and scoring at GoHuskies.com. Keep up to date with all of the Husky action on Facebook, Twitter via @UW_MTennis, Instagram by following UW_MTennis, or on our new Snapchat account by adding the username uwmtennis.
Results:
Washington – 3
UC Santa Barbara – 4
Singles:
Court 1 – (UW) Stewart def. (UCSB) Mays 6-1, 6-2
Court 2 – (UCSB) Eshmade def. (UW) Hakak 2-6, 7-6, 6-2
Court 3 – (UW) Douglas def. (UCSB) Moreno 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
Court 4 – (UW) Sommer def. (UCSB) Rakela 6-4, 6-2
Court 5 – (USCB) Sec def. (UW) Barra 6-1, 1-6, 6-1
Court 6 – (UCSB) Holm def. (UW) Raman 6-4, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 6, 5, 3, 2
Doubles:
Court 1 – (USCB) Eshmade/Seemann def. (UW) Foley/Sommer 7-6 (8)
Court 2 – (UW) Douglas/Watanabe def. (UCSB) Mays/Moreno 6-4
Court 3 – (UCSB) Holm/Masciorini def. (UW) Lam/Stewart 7-5
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Players Mentioned
