SAN DIEGO - The second-seeded UC Irvine men's tennis team took down No. 1 seed and 45th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 4-1, to win its second Big West Championship in three years Sunday at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
The Anteaters (17-6) punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, earning the conference's automatic bid. They will find out their opponent during the NCAA Selection Show Monday at 3 p.m.

"Today we had to play with courage and we had to play with conviction," said head coach Mike Saunders. "UC Santa Barbara is always such a tough team. They're talented, well-coached and compete super well. There is no margin for error. We almost had the doubles point, and we probably should have had the doubles point, so to shake that off and come out to win four singles against Santa Barbara, that's all heart. I'm super proud of the effort."
 
The Gauchos (15-7) took a tightly-contested doubles point. Brandon Park and Matthew Sah gave UCI the early advantage with an impressive 6-2 victory over Conrad Brown/Luka Mrsic at No. 3. It was tied 2-2 before the 'Eaters went on a roll, winning the next four games.
 
UCSB evened the playing field at the top of the lineup as Kai Brady/Pablo Masjuan defeated Rahul Dhokia and Noah Zamora, 6-4. It was a back-and-forth-affair in the early going before Brady/Masjuan pulled ahead 4-2. Dhokia and Zamora then rallied to tie it up at 4-4, but UC Santa Barbara was able to close out the victory.
 
It then came down to court two where Andy Nguyen and Hiroki Sakagawa were locked in a close battle with Gianluca Brunkow/Lucca Liu. The 'Eaters started strong, taking a 5-3 lead, but the Gauchos clawed their way back to go up, 6-5. Nguyen/Sakagawa came up clutch to win the next game and send the match to a tiebreaker where UCSB eventually pulled out the 7-6 (9-7) victory.
 
UC Irvine got out to an impressive start in singles, winning the first set on all six courts. Enrique Luque Rico played nearly flawless tennis at No. 1 as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win over 72nd-ranked Pablo Masjuan.
 
Andy Nguyen then gave the Anteaters a 2-1 lead after taking down Lucca Liu, 6-4, 6-3, at the fourth position. Noah Zamora followed suit on court three where he dispatched Luka Mrsic, 6-3, 6-2, to extend his win streak to seven.
 
UCI needed just one more win, but UC Santa Barbara refused to go down without a fight, forcing a third set at Nos. 5 and 6.
 
Over on court two, Hiroki Sakagawa bounced back from deficits of 0-3 and 5-6 to force a tiebreaker against Gianluca Brunkow. It was a seesaw battle, but Sakagawa finished strong for the championship clinching 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory.
 
This is the Anteaters' fifth Big West tournament title as they also brought home the hardware in 2022, 2011, 2010 and 2005.