The UC Santa Barbara men’s tennis team dominated throughout the season and continued their run in their final match of the year against the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo Mustangs.

Nexus File Photo

The Gauchos enjoyed a string of success in going 5-1 in April and 20-3 overall on the season, with a 5-1 record in conference play, dropping just one game against UC Davis.

In a match of the two rival schools, the Mustangs didn’t put up much resistance to the red hot Gauchos team.

In the match, the UCSB doubles tandem of junior Pablo Masjuan and sophomore Gianluca Brunkow provided the spark the Gauchos needed, winning on court three 6-3.

Court two swung the way of the Mustangs, taking their only victory of the match as junior Fernando Fonseca and junior Noah Berry took down freshman Conrad Brown and junior Luka Mrsic 6-3. 

The No. 76-ranked duo partners in the country took care of business on court one, as junior Phillip Jordan and junior Kai Brady defeated sophomore Bastiaan Weststrate and junior Colter Smith 6-4 to wrap up the victory for the doubles side.

Masjuan stayed hot throughout the day, defeating Cal Poly’s junior Joe Leather in straight sets on court two, with scores of 7-5 and 6-3.

Brown responded next for the Gauchos, taking down freshman Aaron Eliscu in straight sets on court five, 7-5 and 6-3.

On court one, Jordan faced the No. 104 ranked Berry in what was the match of the day. Jordan was able to outmatch Berry, easily winning 6-3 and 6-3 in consecutive sets.

After wrapping up the sweep, the rest of the matches remained unfinished with the Gauchos leading all but one of the unfinished matches.

With this result, the Gauchos were crowned tri-champions and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the Big West Championship.

As for the women’s team, they narrowly took the loss to Cal Poly’s women’s tennis squad. 

The No. 12 ranked duo partners in the country, sophomore Amelia Honer and senior Kira Reuter, didn’t skip a beat, taking down the sisters, sophomore Peyton Dunkle and junior Delanie Dunkle, 6-2. 

Freshman Solaya Han and freshman Valentina Khrebtova kept the momentum going, taking the doubles match on court three, after the Gauchos dropped the match on court two.

No. 60 ranked Honer easily took her singles match, winning in straight sets, 7-5 and 6-0.

On court two junior Camille Kiss took home the victory as well, beating her opponent in consecutive sets, 6-0 and 6-3.

The Gauchos would fall to Cal Poly overall though, thanks to the Mustangs taking victories on courts three, four, five and six.

With the loss, the women’s team will prepare for the Big West Championship, where they are set to take on Long Beach State as the No. 4 seed in the tournament.