UCI Tennis Team Beats Fresno, UCSB

The UC Irvine men’s tennis team extended its winning streak to seven matches with victories over Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara at the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. team tournament on Sunday.

The Anteaters defeated both teams by 8-1 scores at Santa Barbara.

The tournament, along with team’s conference records will decide the seedings for the PCAA conference championships at Cal State Fullerton on May 4 and 5. Since Irvine won all three of its matches in Santa Barbara--they defeated New Mexico, 9-0, Friday--and has a 7-0 record in conference, the 18th-ranked Anteaters are in a very good position.

While No. 1 player Bruce Man Son Hing was impressive again, winning, 6-1, 7-5, over Fresno’s Eric Siegle, and, 6-2, 6-2, over Santa Barbara’s John Nissley, Coach Greg Patton seems most impressed these days with No. 2 player Ken Derr.

Derr who started the season as Irvine’s No. 4 player, is 6-0 in conference and has the best overall record on the team at 23-8. He defeated Fresno’s Paul Royball, 6-2, 6-0, and UCSB’s Gus Andersen, 6-1, 7-6.

“Ken is like a body builder,” Patton said. “Every time he comes off the court he’s getting bigger and better.”