University of San Francisco Athletics

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Propelled by great team chemistry and effort, the San Francisco men's tennis team downed UC Santa Barbara 4-3 at the Rec Cen Courts Sunday.

USF picked up the doubles point for the first time since a March 10 doubleheader with Youngstown State and Sonoma State. The Gauchos opened up the match with a victory at No. 2 doubles, but Bernardo Saraiva and Nils Skajaa evened the battle. USF's top tandem took down UCSB's Tobias Galskov and Ziad Sultan, 8-3. Germain Bahri and Thomas Takemoto clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 victory from the No. 3 position and gave the Dons the early advantage heading into the singles matches.

Saraiva, a junior from Lisbon, Portugal, netted his second win of the day from the No. 1 singles position. His 6-3, 6-0 victory over Galskov put the Dons up 2-0, and the win was Saraiva's 13th of the dual match season. The Gauchos fought back to even the match score at 2-2 after taking matches from the Nos. 4 and 5 spots. Takemoto gave the Dons their third point after he dispatched Sasha Gryaznov, 6-2, 7-6(5), but UCSB's Miles Seemann outlasted Timothy Tan, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 to knot the score and bring the day's outcome down to its final match.

Skajaa, a sophomore from Odder, Denmark, took the first set 7-6(4), but Sultan evened the match with a second-set victory. In the third, Skajaa used his positive attitude and team support to go up two breaks before serving it out, 6-2 and clinching the win for the Dons.

With the victory, USF improves to 9-10 on the season while the Gauchos drop to 6-11. The win stopped a five-match slide for the Dons that included setbacks to No. 18 Oklahoma State and No. 46 Pepperdine. USF heads into April embarking on its final homestand of the season, playing three matches in San Francisco in the coming week.

Up first, USF seeks its first West Coast Conference win as the Dons welcome BYU to the Cal Club Friday at 1p.m.
 

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San Francisco 4, UC Santa Barbara 3
March 30 | Rec Cen Courts | Santa Barbara, Calif.

Singles | Order of finish: 1, 5, 4, 3, 6, 2*
No. 1 – Bernardo Saraiva (USF) def. Tobias Galskov (UCSB) 6-3, 6-0
No. 2 – Nils Skajaa (USF) def. Ziad Sultan (UCSB) 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-2
No. 3 – Thomas Takemoto (USF) def. Sasha Gryaznov (UCSB) 6-2, 7-6 (5)
No. 4 – Erik Johnsson (UCSB) def. Christian Brockstedt (USF) 6-2, 7-5
No. 5 – Teague Hamilton (UCSB) def. Germain Bahri (USF) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 6 – Miles Seemann (UCSB) def. Timothy Tan (USF) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
 
Doubles | 1, 2, 3
No. 1 – Saraiva/Skajaa (USF) def. Galskov/Sultan (UCSB) 8-3
No. 2 – Johnsson/Seemann (UCSB) def. Tan/Brockstedt (USF) 8-2
No. 3 – Bahri/Takemoto (USF) def. Hamilton/Riminton (UCSB) 8-5