IRVINE, Calif. – The third-seeded UC Santa Barbara men's tennis team avenged one of its two regular conference losses on Saturday afternoon with a tight 4-1 win over second-seeded UC Irvine in a semifinal match at the Big West Conference Tournament. 

The Gauchos (9-5) will play No. 1 seeded Cal Poly for the league title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday at noon at the Orange County Great Park.

The Anteaters forced UCSB to battle back from a deficit by winning two out of three doubles matches to claim a 1-0 lead. The Gauchos drew first blood when the tandem of Joseph Guillin and Kai Brady defeated Matthew Sah and Jeremy Merville 6-3 at the No. 3 spot in the lineup.

UCI's Mateusz Smolicki and Mark Peneff defeated Stefano Tsoroiotis and Alejandro Vedri at No. 1, 6-3, and then Bjorn Hoffmann and Bruce Man-Son-Hing posted a 6-4 decision over Victor Krustev and Joseph Rotheram to make it 1-0 heading into singles play. 

"The doubles result was disappointing," said head coach Marty Davis. "Joe (Guillin) and Kai (Brady) won at No. 3, I thought we had a chance to take the point, but we couldn't put them away."

The Gauchos even the score promptly when Rotheram defeated Sah at No. 5, 6-1, 6-0. Krustev gave them a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-1 wino over Merville at No. 3.

"Joey (Rotheram) did well to come back in singles," Davis said. "His doubles result was disappointing, but to bounce back and level things as easily as he did, that was big. Victor (Krustev) was very impressive too and those two gave us the lead." 

After losing his first set at the No. 1 spot in the lineup, Guillin battled back to defeat Hoffmann, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, putting his team on the cusp of the league tournament title match. 

"Joe did what he does and proved, once again, that he is the most dominant player in the conference," Davis said. "He came back really strong after losing that first set."

But it wasn't going to be easy.

Playing No. 2, Tsorotiotis won his first set against Smolicki, 6-2, but then dropped the second set in a tiebreaker, 6-7. Meanwhile, at No. 6, UCSB's Brady won his first set against Peneff, 6-3, but he too lost the second set in a tiebreaker, 6-7. 

At No. 4, freshman Pablo Masjuan, who did not play in the doubles competition, lost his first set to Mike Mkrtchian, but he fought back for a relatively easy 6-1 win in the second set, meaning that, one way or another, the match would be decided in a third set. 

With Brady leading 2-1 in his third set and Tsorotiotis trailing 5-3 in his, Masjuan decided things for the Gauchos, edging Mkrtchian 7-5 in their third set, sending his team to its sixth consecutive tournament championship match. 

"Pablo winning the way he did, especially as a freshman, was big," Davis said. "He lost that first set pretty badly, but he showed a lot of fight and came up big."

UCSB has now won 13 straight conference tournament matches dating back to 2015 when it began its current streak of five consecutive championships. Going back to 2013, the Gauchos have won 17 of their last 18 tourney matches and six of seven tournament titles. Their last loss came at the hands of Sunday's title match opponent, Cal Poly, a 4-0 decision in the 2014 semifinals. 

UC Santa Barbara vs UC Irvine
May 01, 2021 at Irvine, CA
(Orange County Great Park)

UC Santa Barbara 4, UC Irvine 1 

Singles competition
1. Joseph Guillin (UCSB) def. Bjorn Hoffmann (UCI) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Mateusz Smolicki (UCI) vs. Stefano Tsorotiotis (UCSB) 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 5-3, unfinished
3. Victor Krustev (UCSB) def. Jeremy Merville (UCI) 6-4, 6-1
4. Pablo, Masjuan (UCSB) def. Mike Mkrtchian (UCI) 3-6, 6-1, 7-5
5. Joseph Rotheram (UCSB) def. Matthew Sah (UCI) 6-1, 6-0
6. Mark Peneff (UCI) vs. Kai Brady (UCSB) 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 1-2, unfinished 

Doubles competition
1. Mateusz Smolicki/Mark Peneff (UCI) def. Stefano Tsorotiotis/Alejandro Vedri (UCSB) 6-3
2. Bjorn Hoffmann/Bruce Man-Son-Hing (UCI) def. Victor Krustev/Joseph Rotheram (UCSB) 6-4
3. Joseph Guillin/Kai Brady (UCSB) def. Matthew Sah/Jeremy Merville (UCI) 6-3 

Match Notes:
UC Santa Barbara 9-5
UC Irvine 10-6
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,3,1,4)
2021 Big West Men's Tennis Championship Semifinals
T-2:55