The UCSB men’s tennis team split matches this weekend with a loss on Thursday against No. 71 Nevada 5-2 and then a win on Sunday against Pacific 6-1 to end its losing streak, bringing the Gauchos record to 3-7.

Against the Wolf Pack, the Gauchos again lost the doubles point as both of the Gauchos’ top doubles teams lost their matches 8-7 while the team of freshman Teague Hamilton and sophomore Andrew Riminton won 8-3.

The Gauchos then lost four of six singles matches, but junior Tobias Galskov and Hamilton continued to be bright spots for UCSB as both won their matches in the number one and five spots, respectively. Both players showed their strength and stamina as Galskov won his match 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 and Hamilton won his 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. Both players have been working extremely hard at practice and it has been paying off as they continued to excel even after being forced to third sets.

Junior Miles Seemann put in a valiant effort playing in the number six position as he sent his match to the distance yet lost 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Senior Sasha Gryaznov also went three sets, but lost the match after going up a set, with the end score 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

The Gauchos then hosted the Pacific Tigers yesterday afternoon. After a rain delay, UCSB started strong, winning the doubles point for the first time in seven matches. The new top doubles team made up of senior Ziad Sultan and Galskov won 8-7 against sophomores Daniel Alameh and Marlon Brand, while Teague Hamilton and Riminton defeated juniors Alex Hamilton and Erik Cederwall of Pacific 8-6.

In singles, the Gauchos got some much needed wins from players who have not been on the best side of the score sheet lately. Galskov continued his run of great matches, defeating last year’s Big West Freshman of the Year Sem Verbeek 6-1, 6-4. Following him were Gryaznov who won in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2 over junior Denis Stolyarov, Hamilton who continued his hot play with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Pacific’s own Hamilton, and Seemann who defeated junior Ben Mirkin 6-3, 6-1].

Freshman Erik Johnsson played what was possibly one of the longest matches of his life as he battled freshman Miguel Diaz for a victory, 7-5, 4-6, 12-10. His tenacity showed the effort the Gauchos have been putting into practice the last week to end their losing ways and they did that emphatically on Sunday afternoon. The loss puts Pacific’s record at 3-6 as the team heads back to Northern California.

The Gauchos will continue their home stand with a match against St. John’s on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. and then weekend matches against Georgetown on Saturday, March 8 at 11:00 a.m. and Radford on Sunday, March 9 at 1:00 p.m.

This article is an online exclusive and did not appear in the print edition of The Daily Nexus.

Photo by Kenneth Song of The Daily Nexus.