Irvine Loses Big West Tennis Title

OJAI — The UC Irvine men’s tennis season couldn’t have had a more fitting and frustrating ending to their season.

With the Anteaters fighting for the Big West Conference championship and a probable bid to the NCAA West Regional, junior Carlos Bustos, playing with a bum knee and ankle, succumbed to the pressure, losing, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2), to Nevada Las Vegas’ Matt Rivera, and UC Irvine lost the match, 4-2, Sunday at the Ojai Valley Racquet Club.

It was UNLV’s first conference title, which the Anteaters had held for two years in a row.

Kenny Cruz, the Anteaters’ No. 6 player, was tied in sets with UNLV’s Rob Norton, 1-1, but his chance to win the conference title died with Bustos’ loss.

“The guys had a lot of pressure to win the title, and knowing that we needed this to reach the NCAAs just added to it,” Bustos said. “I started feeling the pressure.”

After jumping to a 4-2 lead in the second set, Bustos said he also began feeling his knee.

“I gave it my best, but I just ran out of gas,” Bustos said. “Midway through the second set, my knee starting stiffening up. I was real flat and I couldn’t move my feet.”

UC Irvine Coach Steve Clark knew something was bothering Bustos.

“Carlos should have beaten that guy,” Clark said. “Against South Alabama, he was in the same circumstance and drilled the guy. I don’t think he was out of gas, but he’s beaten far better players in tighter circumstances.”

Bustos, however, has rarely played in matches this season, let alone close matches. Because of tendinitis in his left knee, he missed all but nine matches and in a few of those, he had to default during the match.

“I wouldn’t have played if this wasn’t for the NCAAs,” he said.

Freddie Bach, one of UC Irvine’s top singles and doubles players, didn’t play because of a sore hamstring. But this season, one injured player constituted a healthy team for UC Irvine. In several matches, the Anteaters were without two and three players.

In the week before Ojai, UC Irvine (13-12) lost to San Diego, San Diego State and Fresno State--all teams a healthy Anteater team probably would have beaten.

UC Irvine’s No. 1 player, Chris Tontz, one of the few healthy Anteaters, lost, 7-6, 6-4, to UNLV’s Roger Pettersson. The match hinged on a questionable line call by Pettersson. Tontz appeared to have won the first set tiebreaker with a passing shot on the line, but Pettersson called it out and there was no referee around to overrule the call.

“If I would have won that set, I think I would have gone on and won the second,” Tontz said. “That was a big momentum change.”

UC Irvine’s only points came from Marc Tardiff, who defeated Luke Smith, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 2 singles, and No. 3 Julian Foxon, who beat Charles Olinger, 6-2, 6-2.

UC Irvine ends its season Wednesday against Pepperdine in what now appears to be a meaningless match.

In the men’s independent singles final, UCLA freshman and former Canyon High player Eric Lin defeated Stanford’s Billy Wright, 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.