Feb. 28, 2010

Santa Barbara, Calif. - Despite winning the first three singles positions against UC Santa Barbara, the Pacific men's tennis team could not recover from dropping the doubles point and fell 4-3 Sunday afternoon. The Tigers end the weekend 1-4 overall with an 0-2 Big West record.

Senior Renan Delsin (Santa Cruz da Conceicao, Brazil) partnered with junior Fernando Ristow (Curitaba, Brazil) to earn Pacific's lone doubles win over Lucas Sodow and Benjamin Recknagel, 8-1, at the No. 3 position.

"They got out to a quick start," said Head Coach Matt Lucas. "They won doubles and then won four straight first sets."

No. 87 Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) earned his third win this season over Philip Therp in the No. 1 singles position. After taking the first set 7-6, Therp came back to win set two 6-2. But the junior outlasted Therp, dominating the final third set 6-1.

Playing at the No. 2 position, sophomore Ivan Garcia-Castro (Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil) took down Alex Konigsfeldt (6-3, 4-6, 6-2) to win his second straight match and improve to a 3-2 record on the season.

Ristow fought hard in No. 3 singles to earn his win over Scott Hohenstein: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Two of the final three positions went to three sets as the teams were evenly matched.

"They're a good team," added Lucas. "Definitely happy with the effort and how competitive we were after getting down early. The guys did a great job of fighting back; unfortunately, we fell a little bit short."

Pacific returns to action on March 1 in a make-up game against Cal Poly. Originally scheduled for Feb. 27, the teams postponed play due to the threat of rain. The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.

Pacific Men's Tennis
UC Santa Barbara 4, Pacific 3
Sunday, February 28 2010
Santa Barbara, Calif.

Doubles
1. Alex Konigsfeldt/Taylor Chavez Goggin (UCSB) def. Veskimagi/Paaro 8-3
2. Scott Hohenstein/Evan Jurgensen (UCSB) def. Gramma/Castro 8-4
3. Delsin/Ristow def. Lucas Sudow/Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) 8-1

Singles
1. No. 87 Artem Gramma def. Philip Therp (UCSB) 7-6,2-6,6-1
2. Ivan Garcia-Castro def. Alex Konigsfeldt (UCSB) 6-3,4-6,6-2
3. Fernando Ristow def. Scott Hohenstein (UCSB) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. Lucas Sudow (UCSB) def. Renan Delsin 6-4,4-6,6-2
5. Mathieu Forget (UCSB) def. Karl-Erik Paaro 7-6,3-6,6-4
6. Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) def. Vegerd Veskimagi 6-3,6-0