IRVINE, Calif. – The UC Irvine men's tennis team dropped its Big West season opener to Cal Poly by a score of 5-2 Saturday afternoon at Anteater Tennis Stadium.

With the loss, UCI falls to 0-1 in conference play and 12-9 on the season. Cal Poly improves to 1-0 in the Big West and 13-5 on the season.

"Cal Poly played us very tough today and earned the win," said head coach Mike Saunders. "We started strong and captured the doubles point. They did a great job of getting on top of us in a couple of the singles matches to steal back the momentum. We rallied on courts 1, 3 and 5 but ultimately came up short."

The Anteaters got off to a good start, clinching the doubles point with victories at Nos. 1 and 3. The duo of Luis Lopez and Daniel Gealer got things underway, defeating Cal Poly's Karl Anander/Dominic Bechard, 6-1, at No. 3. Mason Hansen and Luca Marquard earned a 6-4 decision at the top spot against Josh Ortlip and Axel Damiens.

The Mustangs won at Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 in singles to seal the victory.

Gealer highlighted singles play, earning the 'Eaters only win after defeating Cal Poly's Damiens in three sets, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

"Our guys gave it their all today. This match will help us get better and bring us even closer together," said Saunders. 

Hansen battled on court five with Alexander Stater but ultimately fell in three sets, 7-6 (4-0), 5-7, 10-5. Lopez dropped a 7-6 (4-0), 6-4 decision at the top spot and Sasha Krasnov fell at No. 2, 6-3, 6-0. Marquard went the distance with Antoine Noel at No. 2 but suffered a 7-4, 7-6 (3-0) loss.

"We struggled to execute in the singles in the key moments but we certainly had chances," added Saunders. "I thought we competed and fought hard enough to win; we just needed a couple more of the big points to go our way."

UCI returns to the court for a non-conference match Wednesday, April 4 against Boise State at 5:00 p.m.