UCSB senior Nathan Eshmade opened his senior season in grand style, rallying from near defeat to take the final singles match and give the Gauchos a 4-3 men’s tennis win over Washington on Friday in Seattle.
Eshmade lost the first set to Gal Hakak, 6-2, and was receiving serve at match point. He fought off Hakak, evened the score at 6-6 and won the tiebreaker to force a deciding third set. With the momentum on his, Eshmade scored a 6-1 victory to clinch the team win of the Pac 12 school.
He dropped to his knees after the final point and was mobbed by his teammates.
“The team looked great out there today,” Eshmade said. “We’ve been training really hard and we showed it. We really wanted this win.”
Eshmade also was involved in a dramatic doubles match. He and partner Miles Seemann fought back to a tie Washington’s Piers Foley and Enzo Sommer, 6-6 and pulled out an 8-6 win, giving the Gauchos the deciding match for the doubles point. Anders Holm and Chase Masciorini captured the other doubles victory.
Holm and Oliver Sec, both freshmen, won in their collegiate debuts in singles for UCSB. Nicolas Moreno de Alboran dropped a three-set match, setting the stage for Eshmade.
Despite trailing by a point, the Huskies opened up singles play with two straight victories on courts one and four. No. 84 Mitch Stewart and Sommer both won in straight sets to give Washington the overall lead of 2-1.
“We’ve really prepared for this season and the guys played some great tennis today,” Coach Marty Davis said. “It was a great win for the Gauchos.”