UC Irvine (6-5, 1-1 Big West) at
UC Riverside (0-6, 0-1 Big West)
Date: Thursday, April 8
Time: 2 p.m. (PDT)
Location: SRC Tennis Complex - Riverside, Calif.

UC Santa Barbara (4-3, 2-0 Big West) at
UC Irvine (6-5, 1-1 Big West)
Date: Sunday, April 11
Time: 11 a.m. (PDT)
Location: Anteater Tennis Stadium - Irvine, Calif. (Spectators not permitted at this time)

Notes (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. - The UC Irvine men's tennis team wraps up a three-match Big West road swing with a 2 p.m. showdown at UC Riverside on Thursday, April 8. The 'Eaters then return to Irvine for their Big West home opener against UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, April 11 at 11 a.m. Spectators are currently not permitted at Anteater Tennis Stadium.
 
STORYLINES
• Bjorn Hoffmann entered the Oracle ITA Singles Rankings on March 24, and is currently 67th among the nation's top-125.
• Hoffmann, who has played every match at the top of the lineup, is 7-4 overall and 2-2 against ranked opponents.
• His first ranked victory came at San Diego (Feb. 14), where he took down then No. 60 August Holmgren, 6-3, 7-5.
• He also defeated No. 77 Alex Stater of Cal Poly, 5-7, 7-5, 6-4, in UCI's Big West opener on Saturday, March 27.
• Hoffmann has been named the Big West Men's Tennis Athlete of the Week three times this season.
• Jeremy Merville, Mike Mkrtchian and Matthew Sah are tied for second on the squad with five singles victories each.
• Mkrtchian has won three matches in a row at the fifth position, marking the Anteaters' longest active win streak.
• Sah owns a 5-3 mark at Nos. 4 and 5 singles, but has not played since March 23.
• Graduate transfer Jonathan Star picked up his first victory as an 'Eater 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 48-27 (.640) career record in dual-match doubles.
• Man-Son-Hing's 48 victories are tied for 17th 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 never trailed in a 4-3 road win over Hawai'i last Saturday. The Anteaters earned their ninth-straight victory in the all-time series with the Rainbow Warriors. The 'Eaters got out to a strong start in doubles with Mateusz Smolicki and Mark Peneff dispatching Blaz Seric/Axel Labrunie, 6-2, at No. 2. The 'Bows then pulled even with a win at the top of the lineup before Ali Amiri and Jeremy Merville came through to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 victory at No. 3. In singles, Merville was first off the court, making quick work of Seric, 6-3, 6-2, at the second position. After the home team got on the board with a win at No. 4, Mike Mkrtchian delivered an impressive three-set triumph at No. 5. UH stayed alive with Andre Ilagan outlasting Bjorn Hoffmann at No. 1, but Smolicki answered on court three, securing UCI's first Big West win by taking down Lucas Labrunie, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
Bjorn Hoffmann came in at No. 67 in the latest Oracle ITA Men's Tennis Singles Rankings released on March 30. He has been ranked as high as 60th this year. Hoffmann is 7-4 at the top of the lineup, with a 6-3, 7-5 marquee win over then No. 60 August Holmgren of San Diego on Feb. 14. That stands as Holmgren's only loss of the season as the Torero has since improved to 11-1 and moved up to No. 30 in the nation. Hoffmann also picked up a three-set win over No. 77 Alex Stater of Cal Poly on March 27. Hoffmann is in his first season at UCI as a grad transfer from Cal. In his time with the Golden Bears, he was ranked as high as 81st in singles and 22nd in doubles. He is the first Anteater to be featured in the Oracle ITA Singles Top-125 in four years.
 
BIG WEST TRIFECTA
Bjorn Hoffmann earned his third Big West Athlete of the Week award on March 31, after posting a 2-1 singles record with wins over No. 77 Alex Stater of Cal Poly and Matteo Fortini of Portland State. His only loss that week came against 22nd-ranked Govind Nanda of UCLA. Hoffmann also received the conference's weekly honor on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17. The Newport Beach native is the first Big West player to collect three men's tennis athlete of the week accolades in one season since 2018, and is the first Anteater to accomplish the feat since Sebastian Heim in 2015.
 
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
UC Riverside (0-6, 0-1 Big West) is in search of its first win during a busy week in which it is set to host Concordia, UC Irvine and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Since 1997, the Anteaters are 25-0 against the Highlanders. The two teams last met in 2019 with UCI taking the 6-1 victory.
 
Five-time defending Big West champion UC Santa Barbara (4-3, 2-0 Big West) has won its last three matches after topping UC Davis, 5-2, on Sunday, April 4. The Gauchos will play at UC San Diego before making their way to Irvine. Joseph Guillin leads UCSB with a 5-2 record at No. 1 singles.
 
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 48-27 dual-match doubles record. His 48 wins are tied for 17th 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 a team-leading 13 overall singles wins. He owns an 11-6 career dual-match record at UCI, and was named the Big West Athlete of the Week on Feb. 19, 2020.
 
SAH POWER
Sophomore Matthew Sah, who has played at Nos. 4 and 5 in the lineup, is tied for second on the team with five singles wins. The San Diego native 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.
 
ANTEATER ROOTS
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. Since his return to the court, Smolicki is 3-2 in doubles and 2-1 in singles.