Gauchos men’s tennis to play Pepperdine in NCAA Tournament
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -Big West Conference Tournament champion UC Santa Barbara will face Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championship on Friday, May 7 at the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern California.
First serve for the Gauchos and Waves will be at 10:00 a.m., followed by a match between the host Trojans and Grand Canyon University scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
"I feel fortunate that we received a No. 3 seed in our pod," said head coach Marty Davis. "There have been times in the past that I thought we should be a three and we got a four, so this is very good for us."
On Sunday, third-seeded UCSB defeated the No. 1 seed, Cal Poly, to win the Big West Conference championship for a record sixth consecutive time. The Gauchos have won seven of the last eight league crowns and 14 overall. Davis has been the coach for the last 13 championships.
"We were supposed to play Pepperdine earlier this season but, because of COVID-19, we didn't," Davis said. "They have a great program with lots of tradition. We're very excited for this opportunity and look forward to it."
In 2019, the last time the NCAA Tournament was held, UCSB defeated Texas Tech 4-1 in a first round match at Stanford. Prior to that win, the program last won an NCAA Tournament match in 1998 when it defeated Oregon.
Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics.
