BERKELEY, Calif. – Giacomo Revelli shuffled at the baseline, locked in a teetering rally as all eyes surrounding court six were glued to the affair.

And for Billy Martin’s crew – with the senior’s match-clinching a 6-3, 7-5 win over Matei Gavrea – the NCAA men’s tennis championship would begin with not a nail-biter, but a sweep.

At the sound of the Revelli’s final roar, UCLA men’s tennis (17-8, 11-2 Big Ten) defeated UC Santa Barbara (18-5, 6-0 Big West ) 4-0 on Friday afternoon at Hellman Tennis Complex.

“Each match is getting us closer to our end goal with this NCAA championship,” Revelli said. “It’s definitely been a case of riding these waves. That we can get a long win streak and keeping that going is going to be huge.”

The matchup echoed one from 23 years ago, where the Bruins opened the national tournament with a 4-0 sweep of the Gauchos. Friday also marked the Bruins’ 47th NCAA appearance in the 48 years since the tournament has been held and the 30th under coach Billy Martin, who’s in his 32nd season as UCLA’s head honcho.

“There’s been so many great memories. So many years now, playing so many different teams,” Martin said. “I’m grateful for each and every year. I’m one of those people that’s very lucky to be enjoying what they do in their careers.”

Revelli and senior Alexander Hoogmartens struck a 6-4 victory against Lucca Liu and Gianluca Brunkow in doubles. Meanwhile, junior Gianluca Ballotta and redshirt sophomore Emon van Loben Sels blew a 5-0 lead to Charlie Underwood and Diogo Morais 7-6(5) on court three.

That left the doubles point to be decided on court two.

After a broken net moved both parties onto court one, junior Aadarsh Tripathi and sophomore Spencer Johnson defeated Dominique Rolland and Conrad Brown 7-6(2) – the duo’s sixth victory in seventh sets since April 13.

In singles, freshman Kaylan Bigun swept Liu on court three 6-3, 6-2 to put UCLA in front 2-0. The former ITF No. 1 junior has dropped only a single set across nine singles matches since April 6.

“Kaylan played phenomenal – maybe his best match of the year,” Martin said. “He’s getting nothing but better and better. I think he’s had so much international experience himself that I think he loves the pressure.”

No. 35 Johnson, who is 3-1 since returning from injury April 11, followed shortly after, defeating Underwood 7-6(3), 6-2.

“I like getting to play next to my guys,” Johnson said. “I hadn’t been so good at it for almost six weeks – a long time – but I’m happy that I got to keep playing and represent the team.”

On court one, No. 20 freshman Rudy Quan came back in the second set against No. 64 Brunkow before the match was left unfinished 5-7, 6-2, 0-1.

Hoogmartens also followed a dropped first set by taking the second but ultimately left his match unfinished against No. 118 Morais 4-6, 6-3, 1-2. Van Loben Sels, too, left his match unfinished against Rolland 4-6, 4-4.

UCLA will face hosts No. 11 seed California (19-4, 10-3 ACC) in Saturday’s second round. Cal defeated Boise State (21-6, 6-0 Mountain West) in their opening round 4-1 Friday and defeated UCLA in Westwood 4-2 Feb. 1. The Golden Bears offer three ranked singles players, but the headliner is undoubtedly No. 17 Carl Emil Overbeck, who delivered the clincher in their previous matchup against the Bruins.

UCLA followed a regular season loss with a playoff victory when they upset Ohio State in Sunday’s Big Ten tournament title game, and it’ll need to do it again Saturday if it hopes for a super regional berth.

“These tournaments are always ones that you train for throughout the season, and this is what it all comes down to,” Revelli said. “I’m definitely looking forward to these big matches because this is the crux of the season.”