IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 15 University of California San Diego men's tennis team came up short in an exhibition match against UC Irvine, 4-0, on Sunday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
The match began with UC Irvine (1-2) winning the doubles point, as UC San Diego senior No. 2 duo of Justin Zhang and Eric Tseng fell to the Anteaters unit of Vatsal Bajpai and Bruce Man-Son-Hing, 6-2. The Tritons No. 3 duo of junior Richard Han and freshman Neil Tengbumroong were topped by UCI's team of Sasha Krasnov and Antoine Barthe, 6-4, to clinch the point.
With the doubles outcome already decided, UC San Diego's No. 1 unit of sophomore Marc Isaia and sophomore Sreeganesh Manoharan trailed the Anteaters team of Mason Hansen and Luis Lopez, 6-5, but went unfinished.
In singles action, sophomore Marius Ruh dropped his No. 4 singles match to Bajpai, 6-3, 6-3, and Tengbumroong fell short against Takern Wantabe, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 6 slot. UC Irvine's Antoine Barthe clinched the dual-match victory for the Anteaters when he won a hard-fought match against Han, 6-4, 7-5, in No. 5 singles play.
With the dual-match outcome decided, Tseng led UCI's Lopez in the third set of their No. 1 singles matchup, 6-4, 3-6, 2-1. In addition, Zhang split his first two sets in the No. 2 slot with Krasnov, 3-6, 6-4, while Isaia and Hansen split their first two sets in the No. 3 spot as well, 3-6, 7-5. All three of those matches officially went unfinished.
UC San Diego resumes exhibition play on Jan. 27, when the Tritons travel to take on UC Riverside beginning at 3 p.m.
UC Irvine 4, UC San Diego 0
Doubles
Hansen/Lopez (UCI) vs. Isaia/Manoharan, 5-6 unfinished
Bajpai/Man-Son-Hing (UCI) def. Zhang/Tseng (UCSD) 6-2
Krasnov/Barthe (UCI) def. Han/Tengbumroong (UCSD) 6-4
Singles
Lopez (UCI) vs. Tseng (UCSD), 6-4, 3-6, 2-1, unfinished
Krasnov (UCI) vs. Zhang (UCSD)3-6, 6-4, unfinished
Hansen (UCI) vs. Isaia (UCSD) 3-6, 7-5, unfinished
Bajpai (UCI) def. Ruh (UCSD) 6-3, 6-3
Barthe (UCI) def. Han (UCSD) 6-4, 7-5
Wantabe (UCI) def. Tengbumroong (UCSD) 6-2, 6-2
UC San Diego 0-0
UC Irvine 1-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (4, 6, 5)
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