IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team remained unbeaten in Big West play with a 4-1 victory over Cal Poly Friday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
 
The 'Eaters won their fourth match in a row, and 10th-straight at home, improving to 11-6 overall and 3-0 in conference. They handed the Mustangs (13-8, 4-1) their first Big West loss of the season.
 
UCI came out firing with a dominant performance in doubles. The tandem of Tal Goodman and Hiroki Sakagawa got things started with a 6-2 victory over Sean Ferguson/Raz Haviv at No. 2.  Sohrob Amiryavari and Alex Guajardo then took down Aaron Eliscu/Luc Hoeijmans, 6-2, on court three to give the Anteaters a 1-0 lead. At No. 1, Max Fardanesh and Rohan Sachdev had match point at 5-4 (40-15) when the doubles point was clinched.
 
Cal Poly struck back in singles with Haviv defeating Amiryavari, 6-3, 6-1 at the fourth position. Fardanesh put UC Irvine back in control as he found his rhythm in the second set for a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 comeback win over Eliscu at No. 2. In his two seasons at UCI, Fardanesh is 10-1 against Big West opponents (including postseason).
 
On court five, Ruining Huang held strong to upend Jack Cross, 7-5, 6-3, and give the 'Eaters a 3-1 lead.
 
That set up the match-clincher from Sakagawa, who delivered another impressive performance at the top of the lineup. After taking a 5-3 lead, Sakagawa kept his composure through a Lubbe rally as he went on to win a first-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (9-7). Sakagawa rode that momentum to a resounding 6-1 victory in the second. It was Sakagawa's team-leading 10th dual-match singles win of the season, all of which have come at No. 1.
 
Tal Goodman (6-4, 4-6, 1-1) and Greg Gamal (3-6, 7-5, 3-1) were both in a third set when their matches were abandoned.
 
UC Irvine has another tough test on Sunday, April 12, when it heads to fellow Big West unbeaten and 32nd-ranked UC Santa Barbara (14-5, 3-0) for a 12 p.m. conference showdown.