IRVINE, Calif. - No. 46 UC Irvine came up short against No. 43 UC Santa Barbara, 4-0, in a battle between the top-two teams in the Big West Saturday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
 
The Gauchos (16-3, 5-0 Big West) took sole possession of first place in the conference standings and clinched a share of the regular season title. The Anteaters (14-5, 4-1 Big West) are now one game back with one match remaining.
 
UCSB started the afternoon by winning a hard-fought doubles point. The visitors held the early advantage after a 6-2 victory at No. 2.
 
Max Fardanesh and Rithvik Krishna then upended Diogo Morais/Sam Rappaport, 6-3, at the third position to even the playing field. Fardanesh/Krishna dropped the first game before reeling off three-straight wins to take a lead they would not relinquish.
 
All eyes turned to court one where No. 74 Andy Nguyen/Noah Zamora were in a back-and-forth affair with Gianluca Brunkow/Lucca Liu. The Gauchos were the first to break serve for a 3-2 edge and stayed out front the rest of the way, eventually closing it out at 6-4.
 
In singles, UC Santa Barbara went up 2-0 after No. 110 Diogo Morais defeated Ruining Huang, 6-2, 6-2, at the fourth spot.
 
Rithvik Krishna put up a fight at No. 3, but Lucca Liu was able to pull out the 7-6 (5), 6-4 win. Matei Gavrea then clinched the match with a straight-set victory on court six. Sohrob Amiryavari climbed his way out of a 5-2 hole to force a first-set tiebreaker but his comeback effort fell just short. Gavrea then kept the momentum in the second frame for a 7-6 (6), 6-1 win.
 
No. 59 Noah Zamora was on his way to his sixth ranked victory of the season as he was up 6-4, 1-6, 4-1 on No. 79 Gianluca Brunkow at the top of the lineup. Zamora is still unbeaten in his last 28 matches (20-0) against Big West opponents.
 
At No. 2, Andy Nguyen rebounded from a first-set loss to Dominique Rolland with a dominant 6-1 win in the second. Nguyen is unbeaten in his last 15 outings where he is 12-0 with three matches that went unfinished.
 
Max Fardanesh was also locked in a 3-6, 6-3, 3-3 tie with Conrad Brown at the fifth spot when their match was abandoned.
 
UC Irvine returns to Anteater Tennis Stadium next Saturday, April 19, when it hosts UC Davis in its regular-season finale. First serve is set for 10 a.m.