The No. 62 UCSB men’s tennis team swept Westmont College 7-0 on Saturday, improving to 4-2 on the year and 2-0 at home. It was the first sweep for Santa Barbara this season as it dropped the Warriors to 0-1.

“This is a nice way to finish the first segment of our season,” Head Coach Marty Davis said. “We got some work to do, but things are going well … it was a comfortable win for us.”

The Gauchos started out strong by winning all three doubles matches. On the No. 1 court, senior Mathieu Forget and junior Mbonisi Ndimande won 8-3, while freshman Greg Scott and junior Alex Johnson teamed up for the first time and won 9-8 in the No. 2 spot. Junior Benjamin Recknagel and freshman Ziad Sultan won handily 8-1 at No. 3.

“It was a pretty good day … we got off to a pretty good start in doubles,” Recknagel said. “We won all matches pretty easily.”

Recknagel continued to play well in the No. 1 singles position, where he defeated Bryan Cox 6-2, 6-0. At No. 2, Forget won 6-4, 6-2 over Rodrigo Schaefer, and Scott defeated Tim Goranson 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3.

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The UCSB men’s tennis team hosts Westmont College on Saturday in a cross-town, non-Division I matchup, while the women’s tennis team will travel to Miami for its second tournament of the season.

The men are 3-2 this year and are 1-0 at home so far, while Westmont is 0-0 going into its first official match of the season.

“We’re looking forward to having them out here,” Head Coach Marty Davis said. “We had a UCSB Classic fall tournament and played good against them.”

In that preseason tournament on Nov. 11 and 12, Santa Barbara competed against Loyola Marymount and UC San Diego and won all its matches against Westmont. The Warriors’ only action since then was a scrimmage against Santa Barbara Community College yesterday, but is a program that has been on the rise in recent years.

“They’re coming off a really good season; they finished sixth in the country in the NAIA,” Davis said. “They have a new coach [Mark Basham] who’s terrific.”

UCSB is excited to have the chance to capture its fourth win of the season, something they did not do last year until March.

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The No. 63 UCSB women’s tennis team started its season with a tough road trip to Arizona, losing to No. 34 Arizona on Saturday and No. 19 Arizona State on Sunday, both by a 6-1 score. The Gauchos are 0-2 on the year as ASU improves to 2-0 and Arizona starts out 1-0.

On Saturday, the Wildcats won all three doubles matches and five of six singles matches. Santa Barbara’s point came from the No. 5 match, where freshman April Scatliffe defeated Susan McRann 6-2, 6-3. All six matches were decided in two games.

At ASU, the Gauchos saw very similar outcomes by losing the doubles point and five of the six singles matches. Once again, Scatliffe was the bright spot for UCSB, moving up to the No. 4 position and defeating Nicole Smith 6-2, 6-2. Sophomore Kiersten Meehan forced a third game against Hannah James in the No. 3 match before eventually falling 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6).

UCSB will stay on the road this upcoming weekend as they travel to Miami for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championship. On Saturday it will face No. 42 South Florida. A win would place them against No. 11 Miami in Sunday’s second round. The Gauchos’ first home match is not until Feb. 11 against No. 59 UC Davis.

The UCSB men’s tennis team split its pair of matches last week with a 4-2 upset win against No. 36 Brigham Young University on Thursday before falling 7-0 at defending national champion No. 1 USC on Sunday. The Gauchos are now 3-2 on the season, while USC improves to 2-0 and BYU falls to 1-2.

At the top-ranked team in the country, Santa Barbara lost the doubles point and then all six singles matches in two games, with the exception of the fifth. Freshman Ziad Sultan, who forced a third game against USC’s Eric Johnson before the Gauchos fell 6-4, 1-6, 1-0 (10-6). Three of the Trojans’ singles players are ranked in the top 50 nationally and are undefeated in singles play this season.

In its first home match of the season, UCSB overcame BYU by winning four of the six singles matches after doubles play was canceled due to wet conditions on the Rec Cen Courts. Junior Mbonisi Ndimande clinched the match for the Gauchos in the No. 5 match, defeating Francis Sargeant 7-6, 6-3. In Santa Barbara’s only win that took three games, freshman Axel Bouillin defeated Keaton Cullimore 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in the No. 4 match.

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Competing in their final fall season tournament, the UCSB men’s tennis team won the Gaucho Classic tournament at Santa Barbara this past weekend, overcoming the tough competition and rain delays.

Facing UCSD, LMU and Westmont, the Gaucho squad put forth a great effort to win four of the five groupings.

“We had an outstanding tournament,” Head Coach Marty Davis said. “Our young guys were terrific; it was their first chance to play at home. Everybody performed extraordinarily well and we’re seeing some improvement in our double’s play, which is still an area of emphasis.”

Forced to postpone concluding singles matches to Monday due to rain delays on Saturday, UCSB swept Flight A, B and C singles competition, as all six finalists were Gauchos. Junior Mbonisi Ndimande defeated freshman teammate Axel Bouillin 6-4, 6-4 to claim the Flight A title for the Gauchos.

“There was high pressure on that,” Ndimande said. “He’s a good player too, so I knew it was going to be tough going through him. I knew it was going to be a tough match. I’m glad I pulled it off ­— it was a good win for me.”

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With the addition of the No. 1 junior college singles player in the nation, the UCSB men’s tennis squad has every reason to believe it can improve on its 10-15 record from this past season.

Seminole State Community College of Oklahoma transfer Mbonisi Ndimande will highlight a strong recruiting class for the Gauchos as they try to exceed this season’s fourth-place finish in the Big West.

Along with Ndimande, who hails from Zimbabwe, Head Coach Marty Davis signed two other international players: Mons Knudtzon from Norway and Ziad Sultan from Kuwait.

Mira Costa High School standout Greg Scott, the No. 21 high school player in the nation, will be joining the team as well this coming fall.

Because of the departure of graduating seniors Taylor Chavez-Goggin, Alex Konigsfeldt, Philip Therp and Evan Jurgensen, Davis is going to rely on a young lineup next year as new faces will have to rise to the challenge of improving from last season.

“This will be a completely different team,” Davis said. “We’re going from a sort of veteran, senior-oriented team to a very freshman-oriented team. But I expect our top two returning players, Benjamin Recknagel and Mathieu Forget to be at the top of the lineup.”

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With the Big West Tournament set to begin today, the UCSB men’s tennis team is looking to channel some of its recent postseason magic that has helped it capture four of the last five league titles.

The Gauchos (9-14 overall, 2-3 Big West) are set to open the tournament with a match against UC Riverside (3-18, 1-4) at 3 p.m. at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The team is looking to repeat its regular season performance against the Highlanders — a 7-0 blowout in Santa Barbara. After winning only two of its previous 20 matches this season, Riverside beat UC Davis in their season finale to capture the No. 5 seed in the tournament.

“That was a surprise,” UCSB Head Coach Marty Davis said. “We weren’t expecting that result. But that’s not a gimme. [Riverside] is a decent team.”

While conditions at Indian Wells are not ideal, with temperatures set to be in the high 80s to mid 90s, the team is not concerned.

“It’s going to be hot out there,” senior Alex Konigsfeldt said. “It’s going to be brutal, but we’re at a great fitness level because we’ve been practicing hard the last few weeks.”

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This weekend, the No. 64 UCSB women’s tennis team travels to Indian Wells for the Big West Championship Tournament. The Gauchos (13-9 overall, 5-3 Big West) are the fourth seed and will take on fifth-seeded Pacific (8-11, 4-4) in the first round on Friday.

UCSB hopes to improve upon last year’s performance, where the team lost in the semifinals to eventual tournament-winner UC Irvine.

“We’ve been training really hard this week and last week so hopefully it all pays off,” junior Jordan Dockendorf said.

UCSB will have to win three straight matches and win the conference tournament in order to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Gauchos will look to avenge an April 10 road loss to Pacific that came down to the final match, which the Tigers won.

“We’re going in pretty confident,” Dockendorf said. “It’s going to be tough, but we weren’t healthy and didn’t have our regular lineup [when we played them in the regular season]. Hopefully it’ll go our way this time.”

The Gauchos were not at full strength in that match, with Dockendorf and senior Jill Damion limited by injuries. This weekend is a different story.

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The No. 74 UCSB women’s tennis team ended the regular season with two wins, defeating Loyola Marymount 6-1 on Saturday and #60 UC Irvine 4-3 on Sunday. The Gauchos (13-9 overall, 5-3 Big West) finish the regular season as either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed heading into the Big West Tournament.

On Senior Day, the Gauchos took care of business against UC Irvine (10-12, 3-5 Big West) and gave seniors Jill Damion and Michelle Murphy a memorable finish to their regular season careers at UCSB.

“It’s good to walk away with a win, especially because Irvine is such a strong team,” Damion said.

UCSB won the doubles point with juniors Natalia Lozano and Jordan Dockendorf winning at No. 1 doubles 8-6 and Damion and freshman Kiersten Meehan winning at No. 3 doubles 8-6. Murphy and junior Sofia Novak lost No. 2 doubles 8-5 — their first loss as a doubles pair this season.

The Gauchos went on to split the singles matches, with wins by Lozano at No. 2, Meehan at No. 5 and freshman Paola Cos at No. 6. Damion struggled at No. 3, losing to Kristina Smith 0-6, 2-6.

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UCSB men’s tennis righted its sails with a 5-2 victory over Loyola Marymount Sunday at the Recreation Center courts, ending a six-match skid while clinching the No. 4 seed in the Big West Tournament.

The Gauchos split their matches this weekend, losing a close match against rival No. 40 Cal Poly 4-3 on Saturday before finally closing out their season with a victory on Senior Day against Loyola.

Part of UCSB’s downfall against Cal Poly was losing the doubles point with the No. 2 and No. 3 matches, which played a major role in the six-match losing streak.

“We gotta hold the serves,” Head Coach Marty Davis said. “We’ve played the return game really well but we are struggling to hold on our serves at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. And that’s been a problem for us all season, so we’re going to continue to work on serves. Luckily, we have a couple weeks to make some improvement there as it’s our biggest liability.”

The doubles point was lost despite the strong ongoing play of No. 1 pair Alex Konigsfeldt and Taylor Chavez-Goggin, who won both of their matches this weekend, including an upset over Cal Poly’s No. 41 doubles squad of Andre Dome and Alexander Sonesson.

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The #64 UCSB women’s tennis team lost a pair of conference matches over the weekend, 4-3 to Pacific on Sunday and 5-2 to #65 UC Davis on Saturday, giving the Aggies their first win against a ranked opponent this season. The Gauchos (11-9 overall, 4-3 Big West) have lost seven of their last nine matches and are now in fifth place in the Big West with two games remaining on their schedule.

“This weekend was [definitely] a heartbreaker,” senior Jill Damion said. “But maybe it’s good for us because maybe it’ll motivate us to not screw up like that again.”

A winner wasn’t decided against Pacific (8-8 overall, 4-2 Big West) until the final match. The Gauchos earned the doubles point by winning the #2 and #3 doubles matches for the second straight day. Then three of the six singles contests went to three sets. Junior Natalia Lozano was defeated by Julia Hansen 5-7, 6-0, 7-6 at #2 singles, while Damion won #3 singles 7-5, 0-6, 7-5 over Olga Gumenyuk. In what turned out to be the decisive match, sophomore Erica Cano was defeated by Kateryna Nezhura 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

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The UCSB men’s tennis team’s seven-match road trip did not end well in Texas this weekend, as the Gauchos lost to UT Arlington on Saturday and again to #61 SMU on Sunday. Both teams exploited the Gauchos’ weakness in doubles with wins at the second and third courts, as that point became the deciding factor in each match.

The losses put UCSB on a four-match losing streak while its overall record falls to 8-13.

Conditions in Texas were tough at best, with temperatures approaching 90 degrees, 60 to 80 percent humidity and constant 30 mph winds.

“The worst thing about it was the wind,” senior Mathieu Forget said. “There’s wind at our courts, but it blows a different way. It was really hard for both players on the court.”

UCSB tried switching up its doubles pairs at courts two and three to no avail, and has dropped the doubles point in each of the last four matches. Head Coach Marty Davis paired Forget with senior Phillip Therp on court two and sophomore Benjamin Recknagel with senior Evan Jurgensen at court three, but the changes could not prevent the Gauchos from going 0-4 in those slots over the weekend. The unchanged pair of seniors Taylor Chavez-Goggin and Alex Konigsfeldt at court one have been a bright spot throughout the season, and the two continued to prove that this weekend by winning both of their matches.

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After dropping two more matches last weekend to Pacific and #44 Fresno State, the UCSB men’s tennis team concludes its seven-game road trip, playing UT Arlington Saturday and #61 Southern Methodist on Sunday.

This road trip has been especially unfriendly to the Gauchos, who are 1-4 over the stretch and now stand at 8-11 overall. UCSB, who lost by a score of 4-3 in both of its matches last weekend, is hoping to re-enter the national rankings and to build some momentum heading into the Big West Championships.

“We’re super familiar with the two teams,” Head Coach Marty Davis said. “We’ve played them every other year. It’s an opportunity to beat a nationally-ranked team, and possibly experiment with our doubles pairs, as some adjustments need to be made.”

Picking up two wins is not totally out of the question for the Gauchos, as the team’s last two matches each came down to the final singles match­.

“It’s going to be important to win both of those matches,” sophomore Benjamin Recknagel said. “Every loss on your record is bad for you to get in the rankings or bad for your confidence. We really have to win both of those matches to get the momentum going.”

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Spring Break was anything but relaxing for the UCSB women’s tennis team. In home matches, the squad lost to UT Arlington and #11 Northwestern by scores of 6-1 and 4-0 before traveling to Texas for the weekend. There, the Gauchos lost to #33 SMU 6-1 in Dallas before beating UTEP 7-0 in Denton yesterday. After the week’s action, the team now stands at 10-6 overall and 4-1 in the Big West.

In Saturday’s loss to SMU, freshman Kiersten Meehen earned UCSB’s only point at #6 singles. The team responded on Sunday with a sweep over UTEP, putting an end to their three-match losing streak. The Gauchos swept doubles before taking all but one of the singles matches in straight sets. Junior Sofia Novak needed three sets at #2, but eventually prevailed with 6-3, 0-6, 6-1. Sophomore Erica Cano won #6 singles 6-0, 6-1, improving her record to 3-0 in singles play this season.

UCSB moved up to #66 in the national rankings before its loss to Northwestern in a shortened match. Due to weather, doubles was not played and #2 and #5 singles were abandoned, with the Wildcats winning every completed match.

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The Blue-Green Rivalry was mostly green yesterday, as the UCSB women tennis team lost to #67 Cal Poly 5-2 in its conference opener. The Gauchos fall to 5-3 overall and 0-1 in the Big West, while the Mustangs improve to 9-3 overall and 3-0 in conference.

“Coach [Pete Kirkwood] was disappointed,” junior Jordan Dockendorf said. “He told us we need to step up our game. We thought we had a better chance at winning today. We had our chances but just didn’t execute.”

UCSB earned the doubles point despite Dockendorf and junior Natalia Lozano’s loss to Cal Poly sophomore Alexa Lee and junior Amy Mark off in the #1 slot, just their second loss of the season. Junior Jill Damion and freshman Kiersten Meehen won #2 doubles after prevailing in a tiebreaker, while junior Sofia Novak and freshman Paola Cos won at #3 by a score of 8-3. However, Novak earned the only victory the rest of the way for the Gauchos, winning the #3 singles match 6-1, 7-5.

“[Cal Poly] is really solid one through six and at doubles,” Dockendorf said. “But it’s not a good way to start conference play. I don’t like losing to them.”

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