Top-seeded UC Santa Barbara started strong and never let up in beating No. 2 UC Irvine, 4-0, for the Big West men’s tennis championship on Saturday at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
It’s the Gauchos first title since 2023 and the 15th in program history. They earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, and will learn their draw on Monday. The Selection Show starts at 1 p.m. on NCAA.com.
The doubles teams got things rolling for the Gauchos as Conrad Brown/Dominque Rolland rolled to a 6-1 victory over Taj Goodman/Hiroki Sakagawa and Miguel Avendano/Lucca Liu dispatched UCI’s Max Fardanesh/Rohan Sachdev, 6-2, to secure the team point.
“We got off to our most complete doubles performance of the season, controlling all three courts from the start,” said UCSB coach Blake Muller.
In singles, UCSB won at Nos. 3, 4 and 6 to clinch the title. Avendano earned a straight-sets victory over SohrobAmiryavari with scores of 6-1, 6-2 on the No. 4 court. LorenzoBrunkow defeated GregGamal (UCI), 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6 and DiogoMorais won in straight sets against Goodman, 6-3, 6-1, on court No. 3 for the clinching victory.
“As a coach, I couldn’t be prouder of this group,” said Muller. “We talked before the match about playing with a sense of urgency and continuing to apply pressure when ahead, and the team executed that perfectly. It’s never easy to win a conference championship match, but they certainly made it look that way, and the way they competed from the very first point speaks to their focus and mental toughness.”
