UCSB men’s tennis team, ranked No. 60, squandered a great opportunity Thursday in Malibu, falling to 13th-ranked Pepperdine, 6-1.

Philip Therp played a great match at the No. 1 position, pushing sixth-ranked Andre Begemann to the limit before dropping a third set tie-breaker. Max Taylor was also good, extending his win streak to six straight with a victory at No. 5 singles. The rest of the Gauchos appeared to play scared, double faulting frequently and losing serve a disappointing 31 times on the day.

Obviously, we’ll be hitting a few baskets of serves before heading to Utah and Idaho next week for what we expect will be some very challenging matches at altitude.

Meanwhile, senior Jack Hui has been named the Big West Conference Player of the Week. Hui, who won all three of his matches last week against Fresno State, UC Davis and Pacific, is now 10-1 over his last 11 matches and well deserving of the honor.

UCSB, the Big West regular season champions, is now 11-7 overall and 4-1 in league.

Thanks, as always, for your support and encouragement!

Go Gauchos!

No. 13 Pepperdine, 5, No. 60 UCSB 1

Doubles
No. 1 — No. 6 Andre Begemann / Omar Altmann (Pepperdine) defeated Philip Therp / Jack Hui (UCSB) 8-2
No. 2 — Bassam Beidas / de Villiers (Pepperdine) defeated Alex Konigsfeldt / Josh Finkelstein (UCSB) 8-4
No. 3 — Mahmoud Kamel / Brian Brogan (Pepperdine) defeated Taylor Chavez Goggin  / Nigel Barton (UCSB) 8-5

Singles
No. 1 — No. 6 Andre Begemann (Pepperdine) defeated Philip Therp (UCSB) 1-6, 4-6, 7-6
No. 2 — Bassam Beidas (Pepperdine) defeated Bijan Hejazi (UCSB) 6-1, 3-0 ret.
No. 3 — Omar Altmann (Pepperdine) defeated Jack Hui (UCSB) 6-4, 7-5
No. 4 — Mahmoud Kamel (Pepperdine) defeated Alex Konigsfeldt (UCSB) 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 — Max Taylor (UCSB) defeated Brian Brogan (Pepperdine) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4
No. 6 — Alex Moreno (Pepperdine) defeated Josh Finkelstien (UCSB) 6-1, 6-3

Next Matches
Utah State, 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Logan, Utah
Utah, 1:30 p.m. Friday, Salt Lake City
BYU, noon April 19, Provo, Utah
No. 36 Boise State, 11 a.m. April 20, Boise

Marty Davis coaches men’s tennis at UCSB.