May 1, 2010

Indian Wells, Calif. - The Pacific men's tennis team dropped a 4-1 decision to UC Irvine on Saturday, May 1 in the semifinals of the Big West Championship. With the loss, the Tigers end the season at 9-12.

UC Irvine won the first two matches of doubles action to take a 1-0 lead and extended the lead to 3-0. Tiger Junior Artem Gramma (Krivoj Roj, Ukraine) then won at No. 1 singles to make it 3-1. The Anteaters clinched the match with a win at No. 2 singles, getting a three set victory from Sam Gould over sophomore Ivan Castro (Mogi das Cruzes, Brazil). Senior Renan Delsin (Santa Cruz da Conceicao, Brazil) and junior Fernando Ristow (Curitaba, Brazil) were leading at No. 3 and 4 singles when Gould clinched for UCI.

"Obviously we are very disappointed in the result today," said Tiger Head Coach Matt Lucas. "We fell short of our goals, but we give credit to UC Irvine, as they played well today. We were up in the last two matches, so the doubles ended up costing us today. When you fall short of your goals you are disappointed but a lot of the guys improved and that's all you can ask for as a coach. Pacific Tennis is headed in the right direction and we will be back stronger than ever next year ready to take the Big West title."

Doubles

1. Tsai/Henderson (UCI) def. Gramma/Castro (PAC) 8-4

2. Veskimagi/Paaro (PAC) def. Kazarian/Northcott (UCI) DNF

3. Gould/Issara (UCI) def. Ristow/Delsin (PAC) 8-6

Order of finish: 1,3

Singles

1. Artem Gramma (PAC) def. Fabian Mathews (UCI) 7-6 (1), 5-3 ret.

2. Sam Gould (UCI) def. Ivan Castro (PAC) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

3. Fernando Ristow (PAC) vs. Zac Tsai (UCI) DNF

4. Renan Delsin (PAC) vs. Shimpei Suzuki (UCI) DNF

5. Steven Henderson (UCI) def. Vegerd Veskimagi (PAC) 6-1, 6-2

6. Khunpool Issara (UCI) def. Karl Paaro (PAC)

Order of finish: 5, 6, 1, 2