Mustangs Take Down UCSB Saturday to Clinch Big West Regular Season Title

Saturday, April 17

Santa Barbara, CA

10 A.M.

UC Santa Barbara

Mustangs Take Down UCSB Saturday to Clinch Big West Regular Season Title

4/17/2021 8:26:00 PM | Men's Tennis

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — For the first time since 2013, the Cal Poly men's tennis team clinched the regular season Big West Championship after winning its eighth match in a row, beating UC Santa Barbara 4-3 Saturday on the road.

The win for the Mustangs (12-7, 5-0 BWC) is the program's first over the Gauchos (6-5, 4-2 BWC) since 2014. It also keeps them unbeaten in Big West play this season with one match left to play.

It is the third time Cal Poly has won the Big West regular season championship under 10th year head coach Nick Carless with the previous two times coming in 2012 and 2013.

Cal Poly was able to beat the Gauchos despite dropping the doubles point to start the match after UCSB won at the No. 2 and No. 1 spots to take the point.

Needing to win at least four of the six singles matches, the Mustangs started singles by getting an automatic point from the No. 6 spot in the lineup due to UCSB not having enough healthy players to fill that spot.

Redshirt junior Alex Stater gave Cal Poly the lead after he won his match at the No. 1 spot over Victor Krustev in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Stater is now a team-best 12-4 so far this season.

Freshman Noah Berry pushed the Mustang lead to 3-1 after he won his match at the No. 2 spot in straight sets over Pablo Masjuan 6-2, 6-2. The win is Berry's fourth in a row and improves his record to 9-6 this season.

Redshirt freshman Fernando Fonseca then clinched the victory for Cal Poly after winning his match at the No. 5 spot over Luka Vukmanovic 6-1, 6-2. Fonseca now has the second-most singles wins on the team this year at 11-7.

Winning the Big West regular season championship guarantees the Mustangs the No. 1 seed and an automatic spot in the semifinals of the Big West Conference Tournament taking place at the end of the month in Irvine.

Cal Poly will play its final regular season match of the season Sunday at 12 p.m. against UC Riverside at Mustang Tennis Complex. The Mustangs will be looking to finish with a perfect conference record for the first time since 2012. Sunday will also be senior day and the final home match for Antoine Noel, Alex Stater, Andrew Whitehouse, and Roman Shenkiryk.