UC Irvine Dominates Big West Tennis, Wins Team, 5 Singles, 2 Doubles Titles

UC Irvine won five of six singles titles and two of three doubles titles to take the Big West Conference men’s tennis title Sunday at Ojai Valley Racquet Club in Ojai.

Irvine won the team title with 55 points, Cal State Long Beach (39) was second and Fresno State (35) was third. It was the third consecutive conference championship for Irvine, which is ranked fourth in the nation.

The Anteaters have won six of seven and eight of the last 12 titles under Coach Greg Patton.

Irvine players won 14 of 15 sets Sunday. The Anteaters were 10-1 in singles sets and 4-0 in doubles sets.

Irvine plays host to top-ranked UCLA Saturday at 1 p.m. UCLA won the Pacific 10 title at Ojai Sunday.

“I expected us to win but not like this,” Patton said. “This team just keeps getting better and better. This was also a great tuneup for UCLA. It was like taking your Mercedes back to Germany for a tuneup.”

Irvine’s Mark Kaplan defeated Pat Crow of Long Beach, 6-1, 6-1, to take the No. 1 singles title. It was Kaplan’s 27th victory in his last 28 matches. Kaplan, who is ranked No. 11 in the nation, is 33-6 for the season.

At No. 2 singles, Trevor Kronemann of Irvine defeated Greg Andersen of Fresno State, 6-3, 7-5. Mike Briggs of Irvine defeated Bert Lemercier of Fresno State, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3 singles.

Richard Lubner of Irvine defeated Steve Joyner of Long Beach, 6-1, 6-0, to win at No. 4 singles. Mike Saunders of Irvine defeated Steve Hostalek of Fresno State, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 6 singles.

Benson Curb of UC Santa Barbara won the No. 5 singles title.

Briggs and Kronemann defeated Crow and Will Moravec of Cal State Long Beach, 6-1, 6-2, to win at No. 1 doubles. Kaplan and Lubner defeated Bert Lemercier and Nike Noel of Fresno State, 6-4, 6-1, to win at No. 2 doubles. Doug Failla and Chris Ganz of Cal State Long Beach won the No. 3 doubles title.