UC Irvine (4-3) at
No. 23 UCLA (5-2)
Date: Tuesday, March 23
Time: 11 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Los Angeles Tennis Center - Los Angeles, Calif.
Live Stream & Scoring

Portland State (7-5) at
UC Irvine (4-3)
Date: Wednesday, March 24
Time: 11 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif.

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team is set for back-to-back mid-week matches starting with an 11 a.m. showdown at No. 23 UCLA on Tuesday, March 23. The Anteaters will then host Portland State at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 24. Spectators are currently not permitted at Anteater Tennis Stadium, but the issue of fan attendance will be revisited as the season progresses.
 
STORYLINES
• UC Irvine will be facing its third ranked opponent of the 2021 campaign Tuesday at UCLA.
• In their last outing on March 12, the Anteaters saw their three-match win streak come to an end at then No. 23 Pepperdine.
• Wednesday will mark UCI's third home match in nine outings this season.
• The 'Eaters are undefeated when playing at Anteater Tennis Stadium (2-0).
• Bjorn Hoffmann and Matthew Sah are tied for the team lead with five singles wins each.
• Hoffmann is 5-2 at No. 1 singles, including a signature 6-3, 7-6 victory over No. 60 August Holmgren of San Diego (Feb. 14).
• He was named the Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17.
• Sah is also 5-2 while playing at the fourth and fifth positions.
• Four of his wins have come in straight sets as he has dropped only five total sets in his seven matches.
• Jeremy Merville ranks third on the squad with three singles victories.
• Merville, who joined UCI as a transfer from Nevada in 2019-20, has 16 overall career singles wins (9-4 dual).
• Graduate transfer Jonathan Star picked up his first victory as an Anteater with a three-set triumph vs. Weber State (March 7).
• 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 47-26 (.633) career record in dual-match doubles.
• Man-Son-Hing's 47 victories are tied for 20th among UC Irvine's all-time doubles win leaders.
• In their Division I history, the 'Eaters 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 held an early lead but was unable to hold off 23rd-ranked Pepperdine in singles play, dropping a 6-1 decision at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on March 12. After the Waves started the evening with a win at No. 1 doubles, Matthew Sah and Jeremy Merville defeated Daniel DeJonge/Pietro Fellin, 6-4, at the third position. The Anteater duo improved to 3-0 on the season. Mateusz Smolicki and Mark Peneff then upended No. 58 Corrado Summaria/Tim Zeitvogel, 7-5, at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point. It was Smolicki's season debut as he did not play in the team's first six matches. Despite the strong start for UCI, it was the Waves who gained momentum in singles, winning on all six courts. Peneff and Sah both took their opponents to three sets before ultimately falling at Nos. 3 and 4, respectively.
 
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
No. 23 UCLA is 5-2 on the year and will host Stanford before welcoming the Anteaters to Los Angeles Tennis Center. Tenth-ranked Keegan Smith has played every match at No. 1 singles, compiling a 6-1 record. Portland State (7-5) begins a five-match road swing at UC Irvine on Wednesday. Nikola Dimitrijevic, Tommy Edwards and Nils Plutat are tied for the team lead with seven singles wins each. Edwards has also teamed up with Matteo Fortini to go 7-3 at No. 1 doubles.
 
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.
 
"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 on Feb. 17, making him the first Anteater to win back-to-back weekly awards since 2008. 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 5-2 in singles, while playing all seven matches at No. 1. His only losses came at top-ranked USC and No. 23 Pepperdine.
 
SAH POWER
Sophomore Matthew Sah, who has played at Nos. 4 and 5 in the lineup, is tied for the team lead with five singles wins. The San Diego native, who has dropped only five sets through seven matches, earned straight-set victories against opponents from Weber State, San Diego State, USD and LMU, 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.
 
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 47-26 dual-match doubles record. His 47 wins are tied for 20th in school history.
 
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, and nine overall doubles wins. He owns a 9-4 career dual-match singles record at UCI, and was named the Big West Athlete of the Week on Feb. 19, 2020.
 
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 made his 2021 season debut in doubles at Pepperdine on March 12.
 
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.
 
UP NEXT
UC Irvine is set to begin Big West play on the road as it heads to Cal Poly for a 12 p.m. dual match on Saturday, March 27.