SAN DIEGO - The 49th-ranked and second-seeded UC Irvine men's tennis team came back from a 3-0 deficit to take down No. 3 seed UC Davis, 4-3, in the semifinals of the Big West Championship Saturday at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
With the win, the Anteaters improve to 17-5 overall and advance to the Big West championship match for the fourth year in a row.
 
The Aggies (14-7) held the early advantage in doubles with a 6-2 win at the third position. The 'Eaters responded at the top of the lineup where Andy Nguyen and Noah Zamora upended Ryan Torres/Ivan Savkin, 6-4. Nguyen/Zamora came out firing as they went up 4-0. UCD won the next three games, but UCI's No. 1 pairing finished strong to take the set.
 
It then came down to court two where Lucas Bollinger/Kaveh Taheri outlasted Sohrob Amiryavari and Ruining Huang, 6-4, to give UC Davis the 1-0 lead.
 
Although the Aggies won the first two singles matches at No. 4 and No. 3 to pull ahead, 3-0, the Anteaters were in a good position as they were up a set on the four remaining courts.
 
Sohrob Amiryavari got UC Irvine on the board, closing out an impressive 6-2, 6-1 victory over Perry DiGiulio at No. 6.
 
Noah Zamora followed suit with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Ryan Torres at the top of the lineup. Zamora extended his dual-match singles unbeaten streak against Big West opponents to 31 consecutive outings where he is 23-0 with eight contests that went unfinished.
 
Not long after Zamora's win, Max Fardanesh defeated Sam De Vries, 6-4, 6-3, to tie it up. Fardanesh (11-3) has now won seven-straight singles matches.
 
All eyes turned to court two where Andy Nguyen and Lucas Bollinger were in a third set. Nguyen was the early aggressor, going up 3-0, but Bollinger fought back, making it 3-2 after winning deuce point to break serve. Nguyen responded with a break and then had a big hold to go up, 5-2. Bollinger held serve but Nguyen came back again, winning deuce point to clinch the match, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, and send the 'Eaters to the final.  
 
UC Irvine will face top-seeded and 34th-ranked UC Santa Barbara in the championship match on Sunday, April 27. First serve is set for 10 a.m. at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
This is the fourth consecutive year the Anteaters and Gauchos will square off for the conference title. The 'Eaters defeated UCSB in 2022 and 2024, while UC Santa Barbara hoisted the trophy in 2023.