Results

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - In their first team competition in over 10 months, UC Irvine men's tennis fought back from a 2-0 deficit for a 4-3 win at Loyola Marymount Sunday afternoon.

"Great team win; I'm very proud of how we competed," said head coach Mike Saunders. "It was a hard-fought match. We played with belief and courage, problem solved and raised our level in the must-have moments."
  
The Anteaters (1-0) took LMU down to the wire in doubles, but ultimately dropped the early point. LMU won the first match at the No. 2 position before Bjorn Hoffmann and Bruce Man-Son-Hing upended Daniel Moreno/Diego Nava, 7-6 (3), at the top of the lineup. It then came down to court three where Matthew Sah and Thomas Smart fell just short in a tough 7-6 (9-7) battle against Ethan Prost/Emin Torlic.
 
In singles play, Loyola Marymount (0-2) picked up the first result for a 2-0 lead. Jeremy Merville then closed out a 6-3, 6-4 victory over John Bryan Otico at No. 3 to get the visitors on the board. The 'Eaters reeled off two more wins with Hoffmann defeating Nava, 7-5, 6-4, at No. 1, and Sah dispatching Thien Nguyen, 6-4, 6-4, at the fourth position. Down 3-2, the Lions were able to stay alive with a triumph at No. 6.
 
All eyes then turned to court five where Ali Amiri had bounced back from a first-set loss to force a decisive third. Amiri thrived under the pressure as he secured the match-clinching 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory. It was his second career 4-3 clincher as he also delivered the final point at Pacific as a true freshman (Feb. 16, 2020).


NOTES
• UCI made its return to the court after the cancelation of the 2020 spring and fall seasons due to the pandemic.
• Bruce Man-Son-Hing earned his 44th career dual-match doubles victory.
• That moved him into a tie for 23rd among UC Irvine's all-time doubles win leaders.
• Jeremy Merville improved to 14-4 overall, and 7-1 in dual-match singles in his Anteater career.
• Graduate transfers Bjorn Hoffmann and Jonathan Star, and freshman Thomas Smart made their 'Eater debuts.
• The trio all saw action in doubles as UCI introduced three new pairs.