The No. 49 UCSB men’s tennis team went 2-1 in its three home matches over Spring Break to improve to 11-7 overall and 3-1 in the Big West.

The Gauchos won the battle for second place in the conference on Sunday, sweeping Pacific (6-10, 1-1) 7-0. Apart from the sixth, all singles matches were won in just two sets.

The day before, UCSB lost 4-3 to No. 54 Denver (12-8), with Denver winning three singles matches, that went to three sets, while Santa Barbara’s three singles wins were decided in two sets. Denver won at the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles courts in what ultimately won them the match.

“[We] played well and certainly had our chances,” Head Coach Marty Davis said. “This was the nail-biter that we anticipated.”

On March 29, the Gauchos won their first match in two weeks 6-1 over UC San Diego (12-6). UCSB got out to a slow start by dropping the doubles point, but stormed back to win the next six points in straight sets. Senior Mathieu Forget, junior Mbonisi Ndimande and freshman Ziad Sultan all went 3-0 on the week.

Santa Barbara’s next action is its last home match of the season on April 11 against Loyola Marymount.

The UCSB women’s tennis team had an eventful Spring Break as well, winning three of four nonconference matches to improve to 8-11 on the season. The Gauchos will resume Big West play this weekend, and are currently tied for second place at 3-1.

UCSB spent Friday and Saturday in Fresno, where it lost to No. 57 Fresno State (10-6) 7-0 but bounced back to beat Nevada (3-8) 4-3. Seniors Natalia Lozano and Jordan Dockendorf’s loss on the No. 1 doubles court against Fresno State was the pair’s first loss of the year, but they had a convincing 8-3 win against Nevada.

On March 27, UCSB won 5-2 at Loyola Marymount (4-11), which produced the longest winning streak of the UCSB season at three. The Gauchos started the week with a 7-0 sweep over UTEP (2-15) at home on March 24. The Gauchos won all three doubles matches and swept five of the six singles matches.

Santa Barbara returns home, where it is 6-1, to take on Big West rival No. 54 Long Beach State on Saturday.