UC Irvine (0-0) at
Loyola Marymount (0-0)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 31
Time: 11 a.m. (PST)
Location: LMU Tennis Center - Los Angeles, Calif.

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The wait is almost over for the UC Irvine men's tennis team which is set to open the 2021 campaign with an 11 a.m. dual match at Loyola Marymount on Sunday, Jan. 31. The Anteaters were last in action on March 8, before the 2020 spring and fall seasons were canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"We are very excited to be able to compete again," said sixth-year head coach Mike Saunders. "We have a lot of gratitude that we get the opportunity to go out and compete. There have been a lot of people working really hard behind the scenes to give us that privilege and we are extremely grateful for that."
 
The 'Eaters will return to competition with one of their deepest rosters in recent years. They have seven returning letterwinners, including seniors Mateusz Smolicki, Jeremy Merville and Bruce Man-Son-Hing. Merville led UCI in the shortened 2020 season with a 6-1 dual-match singles record. Smolicki, who played primarily at the top of the lineup, added two singles and three doubles wins, while Man-Son-Hing was tops on the squad with a 4-2 doubles record. The Anteaters also welcome back juniors Mike Mkrtchian and Mark Peneff, along with sophomores Ali Amiri and Matthew Sah.
 
Adding to the depth this year are graduate transfers Bjorn Hoffmann (Cal) and Jonathan Star (Indiana), as well as true freshman Thomas Smart, who hails from Sheffield, England.
 
"We have players who can win at every spot, and we have more flexibility with our doubles combinations," said Saunders. "I think we'll be able to put together three really good doubles teams and have a lot of depth in singles to give us a chance in every match."
 
STORYLINES
• UC Irvine will be back in action for the first time in 328 days.
• The Anteaters' last team competition was a dual-match win over Bucknell on March 8, 2020.
• They were 5-3 before the season was canceled.
• Jeremy Merville, a transfer from Nevada, led the way in his first year at UCI with 13 overall singles wins in 2019-20.
• He went 6-1 in dual matches and was named the Big West Athlete of the Week on Feb. 19, 2020.
• Mike Mkrtchian reached double figures in the win column last season with 10 overall singles victories.
• Mateusz Smolicki makes his return after playing a majority of last year's matches at No. 1 singles and doubles.
• Mark Peneff was also solid at the No. 2 singles position where he went 4-1.
• Ali Amiri and Matthew Sah tied for the team lead with nine overall doubles wins.
• Bruce Man-Son-Hing also finished with a team-best four doubles victories in six dual matches played.
• Man-Son-Hing enters the 2021 campaign tied for 25th in school history with 43 career doubles wins.
• In their Division I history, the Anteaters have made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• They have won 17 Big West regular-season championships and three Big West Tournament titles.
• UC Irvine has been named an ITA All-Academic Team (minimum 3.2 team GPA) in each of the last four years.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Loyola Marymount started its 2021 season against No. 1 USC at the Pepperdine Invitational on Jan. 15. The Lions won two of three doubles matches before getting swept in singles. LMU has eight returners from a squad that went 4-7 in the shortened 2020 season. Diego Nava finished with a team-best seven singles and six doubles wins in dual-match play.

SERIES RECORD VS. LMU
UC Irvine leads in its all-time series with Loyola Marymount, 11-5. The two teams last faced each other in 2018 with the Lions taking the 4-1 victory at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport Beach. The Anteaters won the most recent meeting at LMU, 4-2, on April 4, 2016.
 
ANTEATER ROOTS
Graduate transfer Bjorn Hoffmann has returned to his Orange County roots for his final season of eligibility. A Newport Beach native, Hoffmann has strong ties to UC Irvine with his parents, Carsten and Biljana, and his uncle, Zoran Korac, all being Anteater tennis alums. Both his father and mother still rank among UCI's all-time win leaders. Hoffmann is looking to finish out a stellar collegiate career himself, as he was a three-time ITA Scholar-Athlete as a member of the Cal men's tennis team. He was ranked 81st in singles and 22nd in doubles in the final Oracle/ITA Rankings of the 2019 fall season. Hoffmann finished his Golden Bear career with a 67-34 singles and 39-28 doubles record.
 
STATEMENT MADE
Senior Jeremy Merville (Paris, France) made an immediate impact at UC Irvine after transferring from Nevada prior to the 2019-20 campaign. In his first season with the 'Eaters, which was shortened due to the pandemic, Merville picked up 13 overall singles (6-1 dual), and nine overall doubles wins. He was named the Big West Athlete of the Week on Feb. 19, 2020, after going a combined 4-0 in doubles and singles without dropping a set in road victories at Sonoma State and Pacific.
 
ALL-BIG WEST RETURNER
Senior Mateusz Smolicki, who played one season at USC, is in his third year with the Anteaters. As a sophomore in 2019, the Warsaw, Poland, native earned All-Big West honorable mention recognition in both singles and doubles. Last year, Smolicki played primarily at the top of the lineup and tied for second on the squad with 10 overall singles victories.
 
DOUBLES KING
Senior Bruce Man-Son-Hing is a two-time All-Big West doubles selection, earning first-team honors in 2018 and second-team recognition in 2019. In his UCI career, Man-Son-Hing has accumulated a 43-23 dual-match doubles record. His 43 wins are tied for 25th in school history.

SUMMER CIRCUIT
Sophomore Matthew Sah won the ITA Summer Circuit event at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, July 11-13. He played five matches over the course of three days, finishing the tournament with a 3-6, 6-4, 15-13 comeback victory over Ellis Short in the championship match.