TENNIS BIG WEST CONFERENCE AT OJAI : After Clinching Title, UCI Men Play to Win

OJAI —  The UC Irvine men’s tennis team clinched its second consecutive Big West Conference title and ninth in the past 11 years Saturday by compiling an insurmountable 10-point lead. So what was left to accomplish Sunday?

Freddie Bach, UCI’s No. 3 singles player, wasn’t really sure.

“That’s why we came here to win,” Bach said. “We went out to dinner (Saturday night) and celebrated. I really didn’t know why I was out there.”

Bach was out there getting routed by UNLV’s Matt Rivera for the first set and a half of his No. 3 singles final, before he got a wake-up call and recovered to win, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. Rivera began arguing about line calls and eventually, a linesman was called to the court.

“It didn’t bother me that much, but you get a little fired up,” Bach said. “You get a little irrational.”

You also tend to get a little tired when the temperatures are in the upper 80s and there’s no breeze to be found. Fortunately for Bach, the heat got to Rivera first.

“I figured he would lose a little on his first serve and he did,” Bach said. “That’s important because he serves and volleys so much.”

Once the momentum turned, Bach began to realize why he was playing.

“It always sucks to lose,” he said. “It’s just too bad it took me a set and a half to get going.”

Carlos Bustos didn’t have the same problem at No. 4 singles against UNLV’s Charlie Olinger. He started strong and finished strong in his 6-4, 6-1 victory. “I’m just starting to play well so I wanted to come out here and keep it going,” Bustos said.

Bustos’ match was interrupted by a few temper tantrums.

“(UCI’s opponents) might have been a little frustrated because all they could do is win their own matches,” Bustos said.

A sophomore transfer from San Diego State who didn’t play tennis last year because of a broken foot, Bustos is already looking ahead to next year.

“We’re young,” he said. “It took our young talent a while to mature. But we’ve got everybody but Aaron (Stolpman) coming back. If we get a couple good recruits, we could be tough.”

UCI Coach Steve Clark said he has already taken care of that by signing Loara High’s Cameron Lindee and Quebec City’s Marc-Andre Tardif to letters of intent.

Other key ingredients to next year’s team will be sophomore Chris Tontz, who fell to UNLV’s Roger Peterson 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2, Randy Ivey, who lost to Nevada’s Eric Sornas, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 5 and Julian Foxon, who beat New Mexico State’s John Weatherall, 6-3, 7-6, at No. 6.

Stolpman was only five points away from finishing his UCI singles career on a high note, but he lost to San Jose State’s Brandon Coupe, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, in the No. 1 final.

Stolpman led 6-1, 4-1, and 40-0, before missing two easy high volleys and letting Coupe back into the match.

Irvine finished with 51 points in the team scoring, to 37 for UNLV and 34 for Pacific.

The Anteaters punctuated the victory by sweeping the three doubles finals. Stolpman and Tontz beat UC Santa Barbara’s Laszlo Markovits and Ilkyung Choi, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, at No. 1; Bustos and Ivey defeated Juna Sirelius and Eric Sornas of Nevada, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 2, and Bach and Foxon beat Pacific’s Addie Kremer and Peter Gunther, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 3.

In the women’s open singles final, Jennifer Slattery of Huntington Beach lost to Kathy May of Pacific Palisades, 6-1, 6-4.