To be fair, that’s a ways up UCSB’s Jordan claims men’s tennis season’s final Player of the Week award

By ERIC BOOSE UCSB SPORTS WRITER

The Big West announced their final Men’s Tennis Player of the Week award for 2023 on Tuesday, with UCSB’s Phillip Jordan taking home the honor for the third time this season. The junior from Spartanburg, South Carolina earned the award after crucial victories in both doubles and singles to help the Gauchos sweep Cal Poly, 4-0, for their 20th win of the season on Sunday.

In doubles, Jordan and partner Kai Brady found themselves playing the deciding match on court one after the Mustangs and Gauchos traded wins on courts two and three. Jordan and Brady, who are No. 80 in the newest national doubles rankings, secured a 6-4 win to give Santa Barbara a 1-0 advantage. Back on court one for singles, Jordan defeated the nation’s No. 104 player in straight sets, clinching the match for the Gauchos and completing the shutout. This is Jordan’s third Big West Player of the Week award this season, and the seventh of his career. The only three-time winner this year, he has now led the conference in Player of the Week selections in each of the last two seasons, having been the only four-time winner during the 2022 campaign. Jordan and the Gauchos will be on the hunt for a bigger prize this weekend in San Diego, where they will compete as the No. 1 seed in The Big West Championship. UCSB’s first match is set for 9 a.m. Saturday, against the winner of No. 4 seed Hawai’i versus No. 5 seed Cal Poly.

Eric Boose is assistant director of athletic communications at UCSB. email: sports@newspress.com

Fearless people on Wednesday afternoon tackle carnival rides — even those that leave them upside down far above the ground — at the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo. (You can see their feet at the very top.) The fair, which opened Wednesday,