| No. 1 Seed UC Santa Barbara 4, No. 2 Seed UC Irvine 0 |
Box Score |
UC Santa Barbara Presser |
Ineractive Bracket |
Championship Central
SAN DIEGO (April 30, 2023) -- Top-seeded UC Santa Barbara swept No. 2 seed UC Irvine 4-0 to capture the 2023 Big West Championship, Sunday at Barnes Tennis Center.
The Gauchos, ranked No. 39 in the latest ITA Rankings, improve to 22-3 overall and earn The Big West's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship.
UC Santa Barbara's opponent will be revealed in a selection show on NCAA.com on Monday, May 1 at 3:30 p.m. PT. UC Irvine drops to 13-8.
The Anteaters and Gauchos came into the championship as regular season tri-champions, alongside UC Davis. UC Santa Barbara wins its 15th Big West title overall, most in the history of The Big West, and have claimed seven of the last eight.
The Gauchos started the day by capturing the doubles point as the pair of Luka Mrsic and Conrad Brown bested UCI's Thomas Smart and Lawee Sherif 6-3 in the No. 2 spot, and then Gianluca Brunkow and Pablo Masjuan topped Matthew Sah and Rithvik Krishna 7-5 in the No. 3 hole.
UCSB started off singles play strong, taking five of six first sets. Brunkow made quick work of Smart in the fifth spot, 6-0, 6-2, and Jordan topped Enrique Luque Rico in the top flight 6-2, 6-2 to give Gauchos the three-score edge.
Brown clinched the title for UC Santa Barbara with a 6-2, 6-4 decision over Ali Amiri in No. 6 singles.