HONOLULU— In a Big West showdown at the UH Tennis Complex, the University of Hawai'i men's tennis team (8-7, 1-1 Big West) fell to 30th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 4-1. Despite a strong start from the Rainbow Warriors in doubles, the Gauchos won the first four singles matches to secure the victory on Thursday afternoon.

The 'Bows won the doubles point to start the match with a 1-0 lead. UCSB's No. 1 team of Miguel Avendano and Lucca Liu, who are ranked #35, defeated UH's Timothy Li and Kosuke Nakanishi. However, UH's No. 2 duo of Toa Maeda and Azuma Visaya evened things up by defeating the Gauchos' Dominique Rolland and Conrad Brown, 6-4. Hawai'i's No. 3 pairing of Adriano Dzhenev and Kent Mueller held off Diogo Morais and Lorenzo Brunkow by a break, winning 6-4 to claim the first point.

In singles, UCSB took control, winning in straight sets on courts 3, 5, 1, and 6 for the 4-1 win. Nakanishi kept things close in the first set, falling by a break, before UCSB's Morais pulled away in the second for a 7-5, 6-2 victory. UCSB's Carson Lee then defeated UH's Mueller on the No. 5 court, 6-4, 6-2. UH's No. 1 Visaya fell to #107 Lucca Liu, 6-4, 6-4. Mati Gavrea clinched the win for the Gauchos with a 6-1, 6-2 victory on the No. 6 court over UH's Hikaru Takahashi.
The Rainbow Warriors have a quick turnaround as they take on Cal Poly (9-7, 0-0 BW) on Saturday, March 28th, at 4:00 p.m. HT at the UH Tennis Complex.