SAN LUIS OBISBO, Calif.- Saturday afternoon the No. 47 UCSB Men's Tennis team clinched the Big West regular season title for the first time since 2008 with a 5-2 win over rival No. 63 Cal Poly.

The Gauchos cap off their dual match season with an overall record 15-6 and finish undefeated in conference play at 5-0. Santa Barbara is the first team to finish unbeaten in the Big West since the 2012 Mustangs.

"It feels great to finish our season on top and I owe everything to my teammates," freshman Nicolas Moreno de Alboran said. "All the work we did on and off the court paid off and we have a great group of guys here, and our work isn't over yet."

Although the score was(seemed a bit) one-sided, it is not indicative of how even the match was between the two rival teams. The Gauchos fell behind early, losing the doubles point and were taken to third sets in two of their winning singles matches.

In doubles play, the veteran team of junior Co-Captain Morgan Mays and senior Andrew Riminton was off the court first taking a 6-3 win on court three. Cal Poly took its first win on court one setting up a deciding match on two with both teams tied at 1-1.

The freshmen duo of Moreno de Alboran and Anders Holm fought until end, but eventually fell 7-6 to Garret Auproux and Tim Tan. The Mustangs went into singles play with a 1-0 lead over the visiting Gauchos.

Despite dropping the doubles point, Santa Barbara won five of the six singles matches to seal its undefeated season with a 5-2 win. The Gauchos only dropped four of the fourteen total sets played giving them the comeback win. 

Holm was the first to finish in singles play sweeping Josh Ortlip 6-1, 6-1. Junior Co-Captain Teague Hamilton added another straight set win topping Srevas Kolachalam 6-4, 6-3. Hamilton protected his undefeated singles record and gave his team its first lead of the match at 2-1.

Mays set the Gauchos up for the win with dominant play on court three over reigning Big West Athlete of the Week, Corey Pang. Mays swept his Mustang opponent 6-3, 6-2 giving Santa Barbara a 3-1 lead.

San Luis Obispo cut the lead to 3-2 with a win on court one from Ben Donavan and the Gauchos looked to courts two and five to seal the overall win. Both courts played to a third set.

Moreno de Alboran faced Auproux on court two splitting the first two sets. Auproux stayed close with the Gaucho player, but Moreno de Alboran took the third and final set to give him the overall win 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. The freshman sealed his match and the 4-2 win for Santa Barbara crowning the team Big West Champions of the dual match season. 

"[Auproux] had the momentum after winning the second set but I was able to stay composed and play some good tennis in the third," Moreno de Alboran said. "It's important to execute in a tennis match and I think I did that very well today." 

The Gauchos capped off the day with another win on court five from sophomore Cody Rakela to give them a final score of 5-2. Rakela defeated Axel Damiens 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

The Gauchos will now prepare for the Big West Tournament where they will hold the No. 1 seed and will look to go for back-to-back tournament titles.