LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team claimed a share of the Big West regular season title with a 4-0 victory at UC San Diego Saturday at the Northview Tennis Courts.
 
The Anteaters (13-7) finished the conference season with a 5-1 record to tie for first with 35th-ranked UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. Based on the tiebreakers, UCSB will be the No. 1 seed, UCI the No. 2 seed, and CP the No. 3 seed in next week's Big West Championship at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
 
This is UC Irvine's seventh Big West regular season title and second in the last four years. The Big West started recognizing a regular season champion in 2006.
 
The Tritons (9-14, 1-4 Big West) took the early lead in doubles play with a 6-3 win at No. 1. Sohrob Amiryavari and Alex Guajardo then closed out an impressive 6-1 victory over Yaron Guberman/Oliver Worth on court three.
 
The team point came down to the second line where Tal Goodman/Hiroki Sakagawa were locked in a seesaw battle with Andrew Beceiro/Prathinav Chunduru. The sides went back-and-forth before the 'Eaters tied it up at 6-6 and went on to win the tiebreaker for the 1-0 lead.
 
Hiroki Sakagawa continued his dominance at the top of the singles lineup where he made quick work of Oliver Worth, 6-2, 6-2. Sakagawa closed out the regular season with a team-leading 13-3 dual match record and a perfect 5-0 mark in Big West play, all at No. 1. He extended his win streak to six.
 
After outlasting David Adamson in a first-set tiebreaker, Greg Gamal cruised the rest of the way to a 7-6, 6-0 triumph at No. 6. Gamal also improved to 5-0 in conference.
 
Tal Goodman then delivered a 6-1, 6-4 match and regular-season championship clinching victory over Trevor Nguyen on court three.
 
The Anteaters are the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Big West Championship and will open the tournament in the semifinals at 1 p.m. on Friday, April 24.