SAN DIEGO - Second-seeded UC Irvine is headed back to the Big West title match after taking down No. 3 UC Davis, 4-1, in the semifinals Saturday morning at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
The Anteaters (13-7) will face top-seeded and 39th-ranked UC Santa Barbara (21-3) in a rematch of last year's championship that UCI won 4-2.
 
In doubles, Rithvik Krishna and Matthew Sah had an impressive performance from the start, cruising to a 6-2 victory over Lucas Bollinger and Coleton Hootman at No. 3.
 
The 'Eaters went the distance on the remaining two courts. At No. 1, Brandon Park and Noah Zamora were locked in a seesaw battle with Mitchell Davis/Andrei Volgin. After UC Irvine pulled ahead 5-4, the Aggies fought back for a 6-5 advantage. Park/Zamora then came up clutch in a must-win game to force the tiebreaker which they dominated for the 7-6 (2) point-clinching victory.
 
On court two, Lawee Sherif and Thomas Smart also battled back to tie it up at 6-6 when their match against Brett Brinkman/Andras Necz was abandoned.

Zamora kept the momentum in singles as he dispatched Constantinos Djakouris 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2. Zamora is unbeaten in his last 14 singles matches with 11 wins during that stretch.
 
UCD (14-7) got on the board at No. 6, but the Anteaters responded with wins at one and five to clinch the match.

At No. 1, Enrique Luque Rico, who sat out the regular-season finale with an injury, rebounded from a slow start to upend Volgin 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Smart then closed out a hard-fought 6-1, 7-5 victory at No. 5 to send the 'Eaters back to the championship match.
 
UC Irvine will look to defend its Big West title tomorrow morning when it takes on top-seeded UC Santa Barbara in the championship match at Barnes Tennis Center. First serve is set for 9 a.m.