UC Santa Barbara Team Page
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The 61st-ranked UC Santa Barbara men's tennis team won the doubles point in Saturday's match against visiting UC Davis and never looked back, sweeping the Aggies, 7-0.
The win was the third in a row for the Gauchos and improves their record to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in the Big West.
Axel Bouillin and Mons Knudtzon got UCSB off on the right foot with an easy 8-1 win over Chris Aria and Toki Sherbakov at No. 3 singles. Mathieu Forget and Mbonisi Ndimande were next, winning 8-5 over Hugo Verdi-Fortin and Kyle Miller at No. 1. Alex Johnson and Benjamin Recknagel completed the doubles sweep with an 8-5 win over Alec Haley and Steve Albert at No. 2.
UCSB thoroughly dominated the singles competition, winning in two sets in five of the six. Of those five, no Gaucho allowed his opponent to win more than two games in any set. The only player pushed beyond two sets was Sasha Gryaznov who defeated Verdi-Fortin at No. 5, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Forget, the reigning Big West Player of the Week, swept past Sherbakov at No. 1 singles, 6-1, 6-1. Recknagale, Ndimande, Ziad Sultan and Max Glenn all won their matches in sweeps as well.
UCSB returns to action on Saturday, March 3 when it travels to Cal Poly to take on the 54th-ranked Mustangs in a very important Big West match that will begin at noon. On Sunday, March 4, the Gauchos return to the Recreation Center Courts to play No. 49 Santa Clara at 11:00 a.m.
No. 61 UCSB 7 - UC Davis 0
Doubles
No. 1: Forget/Ndimande (UCSB) def. Verki-Fortin/Miller 8-4
No. 2: Alex Johnson/Recknagel (UCSB) def. Haley/Albert 8-5
No. 3: Axel Bouillin/Mons Knudtzon (UCSB) def. Aria/Sherbakov 8-1
Singles
No. 1: Mathieu Forget (UCSB) def. Toki Sherbakov 6-1,6-1
No. 2: Benjamin Recknagel (UCSB) def. Kyle Miller 6-2,6-2
No. 3: Mbonisi Ndimande (UCSB) def. Chris Aria 6-2,6-0
No. 4: Ziad Sultan (UCSB) def. George Horowitz 6-2,6-2
No. 5: Sasha Gryaznov (UCSB) def. Hugo Verdi-Fortin 2-6,6-3,6-4
No. 6: Max Glenn (UCSB) def. Alec Haley 6-0,6-2
SEASON RECORD: 7-4
BIG WEST RECORD: 2-0
