Fresno State (2-0) at
UC Irvine (1-2)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 21
Time: 11 a.m. (PST)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team is set to host Fresno State in its home opener on Sunday, Feb. 21. First serve is scheduled for 11 a.m. at Anteater Tennis Stadium. Per state, local, and university guidelines, the season will begin without spectators in attendance. The issue of fan attendance will be revisited as the season progresses.
 
STORYLINES
• Sunday will mark UC Irvine's first home match since last March as it started the 2021 season with three road contests.
• Bjorn Hoffmann was named the Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17.
• Hoffmann is the first Anteater to win back-to-back weekly awards since 2008.
• Last weekend, he defeated 60th-ranked August Holmgren of San Diego, 6-3, 7-5.
• In his first year as an 'Eater, Hoffmann is 2-1 in singles while playing all three matches at the top of the lineup.
• Ali Amiri delivered the final point at Loyola Marymount for his second career 4-3 match-clinching singles victory.
• Since joining UCI as a transfer from Nevada in 2019, Jeremy Merville has posted a team-leading 14 career singles wins.
• Bruce Man-Son-Hing owns a 44-25 career record in dual-match doubles.
• Man-Son-Hing's 44 victories are tied for 23rd among UC Irvine's all-time doubles win leaders.
• In their Division I history, the Anteaters have made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances.
• They have finished first in the Big West standings 17 times and won three Big West Tournament titles.
• UCI has been named an ITA All-Academic Team (minimum 3.2 team GPA) in each of the last four years.
 
LAST TIME OUT
UC Irvine earned a couple impressive singles wins but ultimately fell to San Diego, 5-2, last Sunday at the Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center. The Anteaters found themselves down 3-0 before graduate transfer Bjorn Hoffmann and sophomore Matthew Sah posted back-to-back singles victories to bring UCI within one. Sah fought off a 5-2 deficit in the second frame to complete a 6-1, 7-5 triumph over Sacchitt Sharrma on court five. Hoffmann followed just minutes later with a statement win as he upended August Holmgren, who was 60th in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings. Hoffmann was also trailing 5-4 in the second set before taking the next three games to dispatch Holmgren, 6-3, 7-5, at the top of the lineup.
 
RETURN TO PLAY
On Sunday, Jan. 31, UC Irvine made its return to competition after an 11-month hiatus due to COVID-19 public health and safety concerns. In their first dual match in 328 days, the Anteaters earned a 4-3 victory at Loyola Marymount. In 2020, the 'Eaters had a 5-3 record, and were starting an 11-match homestand, before the remainder of the campaign, and subsequent fall season, were canceled in response to the pandemic.
 
"We have a lot of gratitude that we get the opportunity to go out and compete," said sixth-year head coach Mike Saunders. "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."
 
TWICE AS NICE
Bjorn Hoffmann earned his second-straight Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week award the conference office announced on Feb. 17. The 6-foot-2 graduate transfer from Cal, was recently recognized for his effort in a road battle at San Diego last Sunday (Feb. 14). Hoffmann earned a statement singles win, defeating the Toreros' 60th-ranked August Holmgren, 6-3, 7-5, at the top of the lineup. He was also tabbed the Big West Athlete of the Week on Feb. 10, after going 2-0 in singles and doubles in a season-opening team victory at LMU (Jan. 31). Hoffmann is 2-1 in singles, while playing all three matches at No. 1. His only loss came at top-ranked USC.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Fresno State (2-0) will be hitting the road after opening its season with home victories over UC Davis and Cal Poly last weekend. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play at Loyola Marymount and Azusa Pacific before making their way to Irvine. Fresno State has five returning letterwinners and six newcomers. Leading the way is senior Zdenek Derkas, who is a three-time All-Mountain West singles selection and was named the 2019 MWC Player of the Year.
 
SERIES INFO
Fresno State has won seven of the last 10 matches in the all-time series, but the 'Eaters came out on top, 4-3, in the most recent meeting on April 21, 2016, in Fresno.
 
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) has been a key contributor in the UC Irvine lineup ever since his arrival on campus prior to the 2019-20 campaign. In his first season with the 'Eaters, which was shortened due to the pandemic, the transfer from Nevada 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.
 
DOUBLES SPECIALIST
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 44-25 dual-match doubles record. His 44 wins are tied for 23rd in school history.
 
SAH POWER
Sophomore Matthew Sah, who has played at Nos. 4 and 5 in the lineup, is tied for the team lead with two singles wins through three matches early in the 2021 season. Back in July, Sah had an impressive victory at the 2020 ITA Summer Circuit event at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego (July 11-13, 2020). Sah went 5-0 over the course of three days, finishing the tournament with a 3-6, 6-4, 15-13 comeback win over Ellis Short in the championship match.
 
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. Smolicki has not played yet this season.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
UC Irvine men's tennis has three international student-athletes in Jeremy Merville (France), Mateusz Smolicki (Poland) and Thomas Smart (England). Since 2014-15, the Anteaters have had at least two international student-athletes on their roster.