UC Irvine (2-2) at
San Diego State (0-2)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 28
Time: 12 p.m. (PST)
Location: Aztec Tennis Center - San Diego, Calif.

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team is back on the road this weekend as it heads to San Diego State for a 12 p.m. dual match on Sunday, Feb. 28.
 
STORYLINES
• With Sunday's contest at SDSU, the Anteaters will have played four of their first five matches on the road.
• The 'Eaters were last in action on Feb. 21, defeating Fresno State, 5-2, in their home opener.
• 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.
• He is 3-1 at No. 1 singles, including a signature 6-3, 7-6 victory over 60th-ranked August Holmgren of San Diego (Feb. 14).
• Matthew Sah is also 3-1 in singles, playing at the Nos. 4 and 5 positions.
• Sah is coming off an epic three-set battle vs. Fresno State's Reece Falck where he earned a 6-7 (1), 7-6 (6), 6-2 comeback win.
• Jeremy Merville, who joined UCI as a transfer from Nevada in 2019-20, has 15 overall career singles victories (8-3 dual).
• Ali Amiri delivered the final point in the season opener at LMU for his second career 4-3 match-clinching singles win.
• Bruce Man-Son-Hing owns a 45-25 (.643) career record in dual-match doubles.
• Man-Son-Hing's 45 victories are tied with assistant coach Tyler Pham for 22nd 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 defeated Fresno State, 5-2, in its home opener last Sunday at Anteater Tennis Stadium. The 'Eaters got out to an early lead with a strong start in doubles. At No. 1, Bjorn Hoffmann and Bruce Man-Son-Hing took down Angus Bradshaw/Aleksandr Myagkov, 6-4. Jeremy Merville and Matthew Sah were then able to hold off one match point before closing out a 7-5 win over Alexey Aleschev/Reece Falck on court three to clinch the point. The Bulldogs tied it up in singles with a win at No. 4, but UCI took the next two matches for a 3-1 lead. Merville dispatched Aleschev, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 3, while Mike Mkrtchian also had an impressive straight-set victory at No. 6, defeating Henrique Osorio, 6-3, 7-6 (2). After Fresno State picked up another team point on court two, Hoffmann delivered a match-clinching 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (7) victory over Zdenek Derkas at the top of the lineup. Matthew Sah put a stamp on the afternoon with a hard-fought 6-7 (1), 7-6 (6), 6-2 win at No. 5.
 
TWICE AS NICE
Bjorn Hoffmann earned his second-straight Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week award on Feb. 17. The 6-foot-2 graduate transfer from Cal, was recognized for his effort in a road battle at San Diego on 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 3-1 in singles, while playing all four matches at No. 1. His only loss came at top-ranked USC.
 
SCOUTING THE AZTECS
San Diego State (0-2) opened its season in the first week of February, suffering losses to Cal Poly (Feb. 4) and No. 1 USC (Feb. 7). The Aztecs then paused all activities for 14 days out of an abundance of caution for the health and safety of their student-athletes. SDSU has only three returning letterwinners, and welcomes four newcomers. Leading the way are graduate student Rafael Gonzalez Almazan and senior Ignacio Martinez, who earned All-Mountain West honors in doubles last year after going 7-1 overall, and 3-0 at the No. 1 position in dual matches.
 
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."
 
SAH POWER
Sophomore Matthew Sah, who has played at Nos. 4 and 5 in the lineup, is tied for the team lead with three singles wins through four matches early in the 2021 season. The San Diego native earned straight-set victories against opponents from LMU and USD, while also defeating Reece Falck of Fresno State, 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 in an epic three-set battle. Sah set the tone for his 2021 season with an impressive performance back in July, when he won the 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.
 
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 45-25 dual-match doubles record. His 45 wins are tied with assistant coach Tyler Pham for 22nd in school history.
 
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.
 
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.