SAN DIEGO - The 49th-ranked UC Irvine men's tennis team upended No. 34 UC Santa Barbara, 4-3, to win their second-straight Big West Championship, and third in the last four years, Sunday at Barnes Tennis Center.
 
It was a fitting end to the 2025 conference tournament with senior and 70th-ranked Noah Zamora delivering the title-clinching point in dramatic fashion. With the match tied 3-all, Zamora and No. 63 Gianluca Brunkow were locked in a three-set battle on court one.
 
After dropping a 6-3 decision in the first set, Zamora found his stride as he came storming back to take the second, 6-4. He continued to roll in the third frame where he never trailed. Zamora won the first two games and extended his lead to 5-2. Brunkow held serve to stay alive, but Zamora then dug deep to win a deuce point, securing the 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 match-clinching win. The San Diego native closed out his Big West career with a 25-1 record against conference opponents.
 
"If it wasn't for my teammates, we wouldn't be in this position," Zamora said in a postmatch interview. "Over this weekend, I have never felt so close to a team throughout my whole UCI tenure, and because of that I felt like I owed it to them to win. That was the only thing on my mind. There's strategy involved and all that, but it was all heart and playing for them. I just deeply have so much gratitude for my teammates, coaches and everyone supporting us."
 
With the victory, the Anteaters (18-5) 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 2:30 p.m. (PT).
 
UC Santa Barbara (18-4) won the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead. The Gauchos came out firing on court one with a 6-2 victory. At No. 3, Max Fardanesh and Rithvik Krishna were down 5-1 to Diogo Morais/Charlie Underwood before taking the next three games. UCI's comeback attempt was cut short, however, as UCSB regrouped for the 6-4 win.
 
Sohrob Amiryavari and Ruining Huang had raced out to a 4-0 advantage and were tied, 4-4, on court two when their match was abandoned.
 
The Gauchos pulled ahead, 2-0, after claiming the first singles match of the afternoon. No. 116 Diogo Morais defeated Huang in straight sets at the fourth position.
 
Rithvik Krishna got the 'Eaters on the board with an impressive 6-4, 6-3 victory over Dominique Rolland at No. 3. That started a momentum shift as Andy Nguyen followed with a 6-4, 6-3 triumph over Lucca Liu at No. 2. Nguyen extended his unbeaten streak to 18 matches where he is 15-0 with three contests that went unfinished.
 
Max Fardanesh then took down Conrad Brown, 6-4, 6-4, at the fifth spot to give UCI its first lead. Fardanesh has won eight singles matches in a row.
 
At No. 6, UC Santa Barbara's Matei Gavrea earned a hard-fought 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Sohrob Amiryavari to set up the epic championship-deciding match at the top of the lineup.
 
This is UC Irvine's sixth Big West tournament title as the 'Eaters also brought home the hardware in 2024, 2022, 2011, 2010 and 2005.