UCI 0, Santa Clara 7
The Anteaters suffered their second sweep of the season as they were outplayed by ranked No. 37 Santa Clara on March 2 at home. UC Irvine has faltered to a 1-10 record overall.
UCI failed to secure one set in doubles as senior pair Sam Gould, Fabian Matthews and freshman Shuhei Shibahara and sophomore Mike DeCoster lost their matches 8-4 to give Santa Clara the doubles point.
No. 2 pair sophomore Ryan Cheung and freshman Jacob Jung came close to salvaging a set in the doubles matchups, but they fell in a close tiebreaker (7-3) to lose 8-7.
Matthews was unable to play in the singles match, giving most of the sophomores and freshmen (with the exception of Sam Gould) a chance to play. The Anteaters nearly lost all of their matches in two sets with the exception of Mike DeCoster who came back from a tough 7-6 tiebreaking loss with a 6-0 sweep. Unfortunately he was unable to carry on the momentum, losing the third tie-breaking set 10-4.
UCI 1, Rice 6
UC Irvine men’s tennis team fell to the Rice Owls 6-1 on Tuesday Feb. 28, continuing their poor start to the season at a neutral site in SDSU tennis stadium in San Diego.
Although Irvine’s record has fallen to a dismal 1-9 overall, ranked No. 73 senior Fabian Matthews has continued his surge in the No. 1 slot with a four-game win streak in the singles match.
The Anteaters could not muster up a fight in doubles. Even though Ryan Cheung and Jacob Jung held their ground by winning 8-4 from the No. 2 slot, the other two pairs failed to clinch a win, giving Rice the doubles point.
Fabian Matthews was the only one who could salvage a single point for UCI as he won his match 6-3 and 7-6. Sophomore Mike DeCoster and freshman Eric Gast were humiliated in their singles match as both of them were only able to win one point each out of two sets.
