SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It was a tough road match today for the University of San Francisco men's tennis team as it fell 1-6 to UC Santa Barbara. The Dons are now 4-5 on the season.

"I need to give credit to the Gauchos for hanging in there and making the Dons break down at the end of sets," said head coach Pablo Pires de Almeida. "We made way too many errors to deserve wins today and the guys need to do a better job of being tougher."

The Dons started strong against UCSB by snagging the doubles point. Phuc Huynh and Mitch Johnson fell 3-6, but Paul Giraud and Ori Maior (6-3), and Nitzan Ricklis and Johan Garpered (6-3) came back with wins on their courts. 

The Dons were up 1-0, but couldn't continue their momentum and fell on all courts in singles. The 6-1 match win went to the Gauchos.

RESULTS
Singles (order of finish: 2,3,1)

1. Giraud and Maior def. Victor Krustev and Joseph Rotheram; 6-3
2. Joseph Guillin and Alejandro Vedri def. Huynh and Johnson; 6-3
3. Ricklis and Garpered def. Alex Soto and Joshua Williams; 6-3

Doubles (order of finish: 1,4,2,5,3,6)

1. Guillin def. Ricklis; 6-4, 6-0
2. Krustev def. Giraud; 6-3, 7-6
3. Vedri def. Maior; 6-2, 6-7, 10-5
4. Rotheram def. Huynh; 6-4, 6-3
5. Wilhelm Saiga def. Johnson; 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
6. Williams def. Garpered; 5-7, 6-4, 7-6

UP NEXT
The Dons will be at the Mountain Pacific Invitational next weekend. The two-day invite is set to begin on Saturday, February 29.

Make sure to follow the Dons on social media @usfdonstennis and @usfmenstennis for updates and more news.