Results (PDF)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team kicked off the 2019-20 campaign Friday with two rounds of singles and one round of doubles at the Aztec Fall Invitational hosted by San Diego State.
 
UCI got off to a strong start in doubles, winning three of its five matches. In Flight A, senior Daniel Gealer and junior transfer Jeremy Merville defeated Loyola Marymount's Austin Di Giulio/Ethan Prost, 6-4. They advance to tomorrow's quarterfinal where they are scheduled to take on the Grand Canyon duo of Grant/Mueller.
 
In Flight B, the young pairing of freshman Ali Amiri and sophomore Aaron Bailey cruised to a 6-1 victory over GCU's Maxim Kirsch/Sasha Kovacevic. Junior Antoine Barthe and sophomore Mike Mkrtchian also teamed up for a 6-2 win over Zach Ermert/Marius Ruh of UC San Diego.
 
Freshman Matthew Sah led the Anteaters in singles as he went 2-0 in the State Flight to move on to Saturday's semifinal round. Sah topped Laurent Magne (GCU) in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, before outlasting Pac-12 opponent Jared Horwood (Arizona), 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
 
Also in the State Flight, senior Bruce Man-Son-Hing dispatched the Lopes' Kovacevic, 6-1, 6-2, in the first round, but had to retire due to injury in his quarterfinal match. Barthe and Mkrtchian both went 1-1 on the afternoon, picking up straight-set victories in the consolation bracket.
 
In the Aztec Flight, sophomore Mark Peneff came from behind to take down GCU's Freddie Grant, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. He ended up falling to Eric Hahn of UCLA in the quarterfinals. Junior Mateusz Smolicki was dealt a tough three-set loss in his first match before winning in the consolation round.
 
Bailey paced a trio of 'Eaters in the Warrior Flight with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Bryce Pereira of UCLA. He then came up short against Arizona's Conner Olson, 6-3, 6-4.
 
UC Irvine resumes action at the Aztec Fall Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m.